The NCA😐 Code

Nina Chanel Abney, #21, 2018. Acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 40 x 29 inches (101.6 x 73.7 cm.).

Not entirely renegade, and yet not beholden to painting’s a priori status in art history, Nina Chanel Abney interjected into the medium a new pictorial program, governed by her cerebrations, ideological positions, and inclinations toward digitally informed encryptions. Her designs and painting strategies collectively gestured towards a personal protocol: a code that responded to the exigencies of the twenty-first century, and that saw visuality as adept at grappling with ethical conundrums, while not abandoning art’s allure and mythos.

“The NCA😐 Code,” in Nina Chanel Abney (New York: The Monacelli Press, 2025), 10–17.

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