Nina Chanel Abney

Patricia Ramirez
Professor Cacoilo
Critical Artist Expression
Nina Chanel Abney is an African American contemporary artist from Chicago, Illinois. Her narrative paintings and collages are filled with a mix of color, text and figures which all tackle topics related to race, gender and politics. Abney’s paintings present different ways to approach big topics, allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions. Her works are inspired by dreams, personal experiences and conversations. Some of works suggest that she is a social/political artist as she presents tough matters on racism and sexism. More recently, police brutality has been a prominent figure of her paintings. In her Always a Winner series (pictured below) she addresses the Black Lives Matter movement where police batons are phallic symbols and clown makeup suggests racial distinctions. She is a challenging artist, her work is both extreme and casual and I believe she is speaking out on these big issues in a very creative way.