People who stroll through galleries full of contemporary art laughing and calling it all bullshit would’ve had a field day with Dash Snow, the downtown NYC artist who died earlier this month of a heroin overdose at the mythical age of 27. Born into an obscenely wealthy family of French aristocrats and A-list celebs (Uma Thurman was his aunt), Dash flashed that snobbish society a big fucking middle finger and ran away from home at 14. Soon he was documenting his rebellious life on the streets with a camera, snapping wildly revealing Polaroids of classic underworld debauchery: drug dens, hookers, junkies, orgies, punk shows, skateboarders, bloody street brawls, vandalism, people smoking crack (click through a collection of some of his best Polaroids here).

He became a graffiti legend as a daring member of the IRAK crew (tagging with the name “SACER”) before moving on to the sculptures, videos and collages that eventually earned him notoriety in the legit art world. By 2006, Snow had work in the Whitney Biennial and a slew of solo shows around the globe, including the genius God Spoiled A Perfect Asshole When He Put Teeth In Yer Mouth at LA’s Peres Projects gallery and a classic series of NY Post covers featuring pictures of Saddam Hussein splattered with cum splotches. “He was the shooting star, the brightest star on the art scene,” says a friend. “He’s gone too soon.”