Nina Chanel Abney facts for kids

Nina Chanel Abney is an American artist who lives in New York City. She was born in Harvey, Illinois. Nina is a modern painter who uses her art to talk about important topics. These include how people are treated based on their background or gender. She also explores pop culture and politics in her colorful works.

About Nina's Life

Nina grew up in Chicago with her mother, aunt, and grandparents. Her mother was also an artist, which inspired Nina a lot. Nina loved to play with her mother's oil paints in their basement. She enjoyed reading Archie Comics and watching Disney movies. She would often draw characters from them.

Her family moved many times when she was younger. Nina and her sister were often the only Black children in their classes. Nina first met her biological father, who is a police officer, when she was older. She said they started to build a relationship in 2015.

After a fire at their home, Nina and her mother moved to Matteson, Illinois. Nina went to Rich South Campus High School there. She sometimes got teased for "talking white" by other students. To connect with them, she would draw famous Black figures from pop culture. This is when she started to explore art more seriously.

Nina always knew she wanted to be an artist. But she wasn't sure what kind of art she would make. She said it took time to find her voice. She wanted to speak out about important issues, like the Black Lives Matter movement. Nina is always surprised that her art is shown in museums. Some of her inspirations include the animated show South Park and hip-hop music. She believes anyone can be an artist if they want to create and express themselves. Her advice to young artists is simple: "Just do it."

Nina's Art Style

Nina's art uses symbols and bright colors. She presents new ways to think about serious topics. She wants viewers to form their own ideas. Her work mixes fun and serious ideas. Nina has said her art is "easy to swallow, hard to digest." This means it looks simple but makes you think deeply.

Nina doesn't plan her paintings ahead of time. She doesn't even sketch first. Instead, she works with her feelings and a natural rhythm. She chooses colors based on what "feels right" together. This way of working means she doesn't know what the final painting will look like. Her art is a direct response to what she feels at that moment.

Her painting style is often graphic and uses bold shapes. It's like Cubism, where things are broken into geometric forms. She uses techniques like spray painting, collaging, and layering shapes. Nina wants her figures to feel free and not "boxed in." She wants her art to have many different meanings. She likes to change the races and genders of her figures. This helps viewers let go of old ideas about paintings. She says, "I like to bring everybody's perspective in."

Nina uses symbolic images in new ways to share deeper messages. But she keeps the images visually simple. For example, a heart in her painting can have many different meanings. It depends on where it is placed and what it's doing. Nina also likes to add humor to her work. She does this by using bright colors and drawing "cartoonish" figures. This helps balance the serious topics she explores. She wants her art to stay important and meaningful as times change.

Nina's Education

In high school, one of Nina's teachers encouraged her to take AP art classes. This led her to attend Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. She earned a degree in both studio art and computer science in 2004. While in college, Nina joined a student walkout. They were protesting the lack of different backgrounds among the teachers. This experience helped shape the political focus in her art.

After college, she worked for a year at Ford Motor Company. She quit after seeing a co-worker get hurt. After that, she started painting every day. She was accepted into the Parsons School of Design. She earned her master's degree in 2007. Nina moved to Jersey City to go to Parsons. She wanted to gain a "sense of independence."

Nina's Art Career

Nina is well known for her large, colorful, and graphic paintings. Four of her works are part of the 30 Americans exhibition. This show features works by important African American artists. It has traveled to museums and galleries across America since 2008. Her art has also been shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Early in her career, Nina felt her art had to focus on race. But now, her work has grown to focus on whatever is important to her at the moment. She said, "Now [it’s] more reflective of what I actually deal with. Not that I don't deal with racism, but that's not my whole life."

In 2007, Nina gained attention for her painting Class of 2007. She made it for her master's degree show. A famous art collecting family, the Rubells, bought the painting. Nina was the youngest artist to have work in the 30 Americans exhibition. This show brought together many influential African American artists.

Nina also worked with a program called ArtReach. This program helped young people create a permanent mural in Washington, D.C. The project explored how celebrities are important in culture. It also looked at how they connect to issues of race in the country.

Nina has given talks at universities and art centers across the nation. News sources like the Huffington Post and Forbes have talked about her art. They discuss how she uses her art to address important social topics.

Art Shows and Exhibitions

Dirty Wash was Nina's first art show in 2008. It was held at a gallery in New York City. Many major art collectors came, and all the paintings sold out quickly.

Nina had three paintings and one drawing in the 30 Americans exhibition. This show traveled to several museums between 2008 and 2012.

In November 2017, she had her first solo show at a gallery in New York City. It was called Nina Chanel Abney: Seized the Imagination. At the same time, she had another show called Safe House. Nina is known for her colorful and sometimes busy paintings. They are full of pop culture images and current events. Her art often highlights how unfairness and violence affect people of color every day. Nina aims to challenge negative ideas about African Americans in the media. In December 2017, Nina created her first 3D art project. It was an interactive playground-like sculpture series called Fair Grounds.

Her first solo museum exhibition was Nina Chanel Abney: Royal Flush. It opened in February 2017 at the Nasher Museum of Art in Durham, North Carolina. This show included about 30 of her paintings, watercolors, and collages. It covered 10 years of her work. The art in this show included many references to art history. These included medieval art and artists like Henri Matisse. Her works explored topics like self-love, celebrity culture, and how women are sometimes seen as objects. They also touched on issues of race and police actions. Nina said she "didn’t know what it was going to look like" before she started this show. She used spray paint and taped shapes on black walls to begin. Before the show opened, she hoped it would make people feel "a mix of reactions."

In her February 2018 show in Paris, Nina created murals on a main staircase. One mural showed three Black women's faces against a yellow background. The numbers 1, 2, 3 were listed under each one. Next to them, Nina painted "WHAT?" in black letters. This made viewers look closely and think about the meaning.

In September 2018, Nina helped organize a group art show. It was called Punch and focused on current social and political issues. The show featured Nina's art and works by some of her close friends. It included paintings, photographs, and sculptures.

Other exhibitions where Nina's work has been shown include:

• I Dread To Think, 2012
• Always a Winner, 2015
• Royal Flush, 2017
• Fair Grounds, 2017
• Safe House, 2017
• Seized the Imagination, 2017
• Hot to Trot. Not., 2018
• Chicago Cultural Center, 2018
• Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles & California African American Museum, 2018
• Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, 2019

Where to Find Nina's Art

Nina's artwork is part of many important art collections. These include the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art. Her art is also at the Rubell Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Books About Nina's Art

• 30 Americans: Rubell Family Collection. Rubell Family Collection (publisher), 2012.
• Nina Chanel Abney: Royal Flush. Duke University, 2017.