Wright Auction

For a New York Magazine cover story in 2006, artist Cass Bird was assigned to photograph "Warhol's Children", rising bohemian stars of the downtown art scene, Dan Colen, Ryan McGinley and Dash Snow. The resulting photo of the hell-raising trio peacefully sleeping in Snow's bed was used as the cover for issue. Bird recalls the morning she shot the friends at Snow's apartment: 

"The morning I photographed this picture, Ryan stole Dash’s keys so we could get in after they had all gone out. They weren’t going to leave it to Dash to open up the door at four in the morning. I don’t remember how I got in, but it was really early, like six am. I had to set up in virtual darkness with my assistant, trying to be super quiet. I literally got a ladder, climbed on top of Dash’s wardrobe and wedged myself against his wall in a foot and a half of space. I had my Kino, a hot light and a little tiny flash, because there was no light in his actual place – he had blacked out all the windows. All natural light was shunned. It was pretty funny. 

I think Dash was completely sleeping in this shot and Dan and Ryan were pretty close to being out. I would ask them to turn over and there would be no response. They were in and out of consciousness. 

It is really cute seeing them like this, they are so comfortable with one another. Later on, I woke them up and they all sat in bed facing the camera smoking cigarettes, which is the image that got published. But this image was from the beginning of the first roll."

Read the full article here.