Last night at the opening of MoMA’s “In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960–1976,†where surprisingly few people said they had heard of Dash Snow or his passing, we encountered AA Bronson — co-founder of the artists’ group General Idea, darling of the 2002 Whitney Biennial, and director of artist publishing house Printed Matter — who’d worked with Snow recently, and was still processing the loss.
“He’s such a sweet, sweet character and artist. It’s so sad,†said Bronson, who’d gotten the news from a colleague at Printed Matter. “I didn’t know him well, but it was unexpected.†Bronson and his partner, architect Mark Jan Krayenhoff van der Leur, who was also at the party, met Snow through friends, and recalled sitting with him at the Terence Koh opening at Mr. Chow’s. “He was taking pictures of us,†said Bronson. Then recently, for Purple Fashion magazine, Bronson told us, “He took naked photos of me. I’m sure Dash would have loved to have photographed both of us.†(Dash, along with Olivier Zahm, also interviewed Bronson.)
Bronson said having Snow as the photographer was what convinced him to strip down. “I wouldn’t have done it for just anybody, but I would do it for him,†he said. “I knew him and I liked him and I trusted him. He’s just an extraordinarily genuine person, much more than 99 percent of the populace.†How was the experience? “Charming, actually,†said Bronson. “He didn’t really direct. It was very sort of free-form. What I like about his photos is they have a strangely accurate sense of reality to them. They’re just very flat. They are what they are. There’s no pretense to them of any sort. So they’re photos of an old man, presented as an old man.†How does he think Snow’s work will be remembered? “I don’t know,†Bronson admitted. “We’ll see. I think it will have a niche market, but it will stay with us. His friends will love him.â€