A Life of Wonder

Chi Modu, the foremost photographer of the hip hop movement, has succeed in bringing his art to the people…on the blockchain. Chi’s empathy gave him unique access to document hip hop. He dug deeper, and he found truth: the bullet holes in Nas’ bedroom, the moment when Snoop became Snoop, and when Biggie ruled New York Notoriously, and Pac’s deep capacity to focus. Chi’s gift was to showcase the ordinary in the most extraordinary people—to celebrate their vulnerability and their humanity.

Flash Mints, a company with a stunning platform delivering the legendary moments of iconic photographers, recently brought Chi’s work to mint. I had the pleasure of speaking with Enrico Moses, digital artist and Flash Mints’ founder, about his company, Chi’s mint and the blockchain. Enrico’s hustle and savviness captivated me. It has made him the OG NFT Whisper for the hip hop’s most influential photo journalists.

Enrico shared that for too long artists, especially those of color, have been denied the fruits of the their work. The blockchain—with its royalty structure and decentralized ethos, is finally setting this right. He explained many the similarities between Web 3 and hip hop. Enrico is more than a custodian of legacy, he’s a legacy maker. I expect big things from him and Flash Mints in the years ahead. See our interview in full below:

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There is this intangible moment you can feel when someone’s career is about to take off. With fine digital art and NFTs, it occurs at the nexus of their community of committed collectors, the artist’s distinctive style, and their ability to push limits. Mexico’s very own @CoupofGrace exemplifies these traits.

Just as Picasso painted true to life images in the late 1890s before settling on his movement shaping style, @CoupofGrace started his career as a traditional Mexican painter, who came into his own digitally through experimentation. “In this new space I can bring things to life that I’ve been working on for years and years in the physical space with twists that are my own,” he told me. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Coup shared his approach to NFT creation and collaboration.

I asked, “how do you sit with a haunting image for weeks during artistic projects without being negatively impacted?” He replied, “by using beauty to purify the grotesque.”

In Coup’s, world beauty transcends all, and art comes to life between the figures and reveals inhabitable spaces. “For me,” Coup shared, “painting is about finding space to breathe in the canvas.”

I invite you to his body of NFT work: abstracts, the popular Skull studies and fine digital works with movement. His command of his craft, playful participation in the #NFTcommunity, and especially his ability to give us permission to look at the disturbing and find beauty there, make him an artist I will cherish & collect.

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Maciek Drabik’s work is breathtaking. He is one of those rare artists whose work creates and unfolds an entire world. He invites you in to discover yourself in this strange land. In his vision for the future, I find myself present, welcomed and enchanted. Even though at first the world feels like a celebration of chaos and disorder, the colors and imagery hint a future in which we all have the opportunities to be heroes, and to find ourselves in the selfless expression of technology and light.

See my favorite piece below and a poem I wrote that is inspired by it.

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