[1] She is an African American contemporary artist and painter who explores race, gender, pop culture, homophobia, and politics in her work.
After her mother remarried and had a second daughter, the family moved around a lot, and Abney and her sister would often be the only black children in their class at school.
Abney first met her biological father, who is a police officer, when he pulled her mother over for an alleged traffic violation while they were driving through Indiana.
After a fire at their home, Abney and her mother moved in with her aunt in Matteson, Illinois where she attended Rich South Campus High School.
[3] Her work uses symbols and bright colors to present new ways of approaching loaded topics as she invites viewers to draw their own conclusions.
[2] Abney likes to switch around races and genders in her figures, so the viewer releases traditionally conformed ideas about the painting.
This led her to attend Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois where she received a BFA with a dual major in studio art and computer science in 2004.
While attending college, Abney took part in a campus-wide walkout in protest of the lack of diversity in the faculty, which contributed to the political focus of her art.
Not that I don't deal with racism, but that's not my whole life"[12] In 2007, Abney received recognition for her painting Class of 2007, done for her MFA thesis show.
[15] Abney worked at THEARC run by the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s after school program ArtReach with youth creating a permanent mural in the DC area.
"[2] News sources including the Huffington Post, Forbes and Elle Magazine have discussed Abney's attempts to address radical political topics by blending genders and race.
In November 2017, she had her first solo show at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York City, Nina Chanel Abney: Seized the Imagination This exhibition ran concurrently with Safe House, a solo show curated by Piper Marshall at the Mary Boone Gallery in New York City.
The artist is known for her colorful canvases, which are at times frenzied or chaotic, packed with pop culture imagery and references to current events.
[19] Abney locates much of her work in the recognition that abuse and violence are an integral part of the everyday consciousness of people of color.
[21] In December 2017, Abney created her first 3D installation at 29Rooms in Los Angeles called Fair Grounds, an interactive experiential series of sculptures that evokes the childhood look and feel of a playground.
[3] The works contain a wide range of art historical references, including medieval icons, Northern Renaissance still lifes, and artists such as Henri Matisse and John Wesley.
at Palais de Tokyo in Paris,[24] Abney created site specific murals along the institution’s main stairwell.