Chi Modu Pens UNCATEGORIZED

By: Christina Mancuso Jul. 28, 2015

NEW YORK, July 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-iReach/ Chi Modu's Uncategorized was born in NYC in 2013 as an outdoor installation of massive images of Tupac, Biggie, Snoop, and others, that got the city talking. In 2014, it morphed into a provocative, record-breaking solo exhibit at Pori Art Museum in Finland. Now, it has taken shape in a book that lives up to its Uncategorized name by defying description. In it are images, many of them never seen before, of the most important figures in hip hop, taken during that era's defining years, the 1990s.

The photos capture the emerging superstars as the real life humans they were rather than the commercialized personas they were encouraged to portray. So instead of seeing them onstage performing, we see them at home during unguarded moments, doing those commonplace things all of us do, looking young and vulnerable. We see a young Nas relaxing on his bed, a stuffed panda and Nintendo visible on a dresser, and a bullet hole in the wall above his head. There's Mobb Deep riding the subway. Method Man sitting on a milk crate in front of his local bodega in Staten Island. Snoop sitting on a sidewalk in LA with two .380 pistols between his spread feet. Tupac kicking back with his friends. Eazy E, Q Tip, Dr. Dre, Puffy, ODB, Mary J Blige, LL Cool J, Biggie the list goes on and on.

And Modu's captions give us the inside scoop, the back stories to many of these amazing shots. We learn why Snoop is posing in front of the Highway 187 sign in LA. How Modu got the iconic shot of Biggie in front of the Twin Towers. What a photo of Snoop has in common with Gianni Versace's death.

While the book is a catalog of Modu's Uncategorized exhibit that took place in Finland last summer, it is also a catalog of Modu's life work and of hip hop's most important years.

Modu created theUncategorized movement in 2013 to make his art accessible to more people. According to Modu, "The art world tends to be very exclusive and full of obstacles for both the artists and the public. My goal is to make art more inclusive by pulling an end run on the galleries and the museums, breaking down the barriers, and bringing the art directly to the people. Like graffiti, but legal."

As to why he chose the name Uncategorized "People always want to put art and artists into neat little boxes. My work does not fit into any one stereotype and neither do I. I wanted to create something that is the opposite of putting labels on everything and make a statement against stereotyping in general."

For more information about Chi Modu: http://www.chimodu.com/about

For more information about Uncategorized: http://uncategorized.com/

For general information and to arrange an interview with Chi Modu, contact:

Kristin Volk: kvolk.nyc@gmail.com 917.543.4444

Media Contact: KRISTIN VOLK, UNCATEGORIZED, +1.917.543.4444, KVOLK.NYC@GMAIL.COM

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SOURCE Uncategorized