The New York Times marks the transition for Ryan McGinley (center with Dash Snow and Dan Colen) from bad boy to grand old man of the emerging art world:

It is a story line that Mr. McGinley knows well. Back in the early 2000s, he was at the center of a hard-partying crew of artists, most prominently Dan Colen and the late Dash Snow, who created a new myth of the downtown artist. Now 36, the former enfant terrible parties a little less (Mr. McGinley no longer drinks) and has matured into an improbable dean to the next generation of scrappy artists, with his Chinatown studio serving as a de facto clubhouse.

“It’s an education,” Mr. McGinley said recently in his studio, a tin-roofed loft on Canal Street that he originally shared with Mr. Colen. Surrounded by a hive of stylish assistants, Mr. McGinley sat in an anteroom that serves as his primary work space, still looking boyish in a white T-shirt and leather motorcycle jacket.

“In a way, it’s a curriculum, as I can give people advice because I’ve been through it,” he said.

“I was the first person to get attention within my crew, and I wanted people to share the success that I was enjoying.

Ryan McGinley, the Pied Piper of the Downtown Art World (NYTimes)