Nina Chanel Abney
Chicago, IL
Nina Chanel Abney’s large-scale paintings create a collision of political critique and popular culture. The Chicago-born New York-based artist employs stencils, paint, and collage in creating hot-button-themed compositions. Emoji-like symbols, historical references, soul-crushing headlines, iconic faces and avatars of her friends as well as herself meet in disjointed narratives, addressing themes from abuse of power to celebrity worship, sexuality, and race, all rendered in eye-popping palettes and geometric figures. Harnessing the barrage of the information age, Chanel Abney paints in a boldly upbeat contemporary pallet.