If you’re interested in the kind of art that captures the frenetic pace and chaos of contemporary culture, you really need look no further than the work of Nina Chanel Abney. (Photographed above at Perrotin Paris during her solo show Now What? Or What Else? © Photo: Tanguy Beurdeley / Courtesy Perrotin).
Broaching subjects as diverse as race, celebrity, religion, politics, sex, and art history, the Illinois-born, New York-based artist’s works eschew linear storytelling in lieu of disjointed narratives. Through a bracing use of color and unapologetic scale, Abney's canvases propose a new kind of history painting.
Her work is held in the collections of prestigious institutions such as the Whitney Museum, MoMA, and the Brooklyn Museum, among others. Meanwhile, recent major solo exhibitions, including those at Jack Shainman Gallery and Jeffrey Deitch, have solidified her place in the contemporary art world. She is also known for her collaborations with Nike and Timberland.
Now, Phaidon, Monacelli, and Artspace are proud to present Digital Blue, 2025, a groundbreaking moving-image limited edition by the artist. Produced in collaboration with Infinite Objects, the leading platform for creating displayable digital art, Digital Blue, 2025 is Artspace’s first-ever NFT release.
Nina Chanel Abney - Digital Blue, 2025. (Nina Chanel Abney's WHITE, 2021 appears courtesy of the artist and Pace Prints) Photography Garrett Carroll
Digital Blue, 2025 comprises a limited edition of 50 video artworks, each presented on a 16:9 screen encased in a sleek 10-inch acrylic frame. Inspired by Abney’s original artwork entitled Blue, 2021, Digital Blue, 2025 is a looping video edition that brings Abney’s signature patterns, figures, and iconography to life. The work measures 11.4 x 7.5 x 1.14 inches and is accompanied by a signed and numbered Certificate of Authenticity. Each edition is $2.500.
“The NFT format expands the possibilities of painting. It allows the work to move, to hold breath, to shift through time, qualities that static images only imply," Abney says.
Each signed and numbered edition comes with a custom acrylic stand, a certificate of authenticity, and a QR code to claim the artist-authenticated NFT. The limited edition also includes a signed copy of Nina Chanel Abney, the artist’s debut monograph from Monacelli, which surveys over 300 works and provides a behind-the-scenes look at Abney’s ever-expanding creative process.
Artspace sat down with Nina Chanel Abney and asked her a few questions about the groundbreaking new edition.
Nina Chanel Abney - Digital Blue, 2025. Photography Garrett Carroll
This edition is an animated NFT what attracts you to this form of artistic expression? The NFT format expands the possibilities of painting. It allows the work to move, to hold breath, to shift through time, qualities that static images only imply. I’m interested in how digital space changes the life of an image: how it circulates, how it’s owned, and how it connects with audiences beyond institutional frameworks.
Was there a specific event or depiction of an event that influenced or perhaps inspired this work? I tend to work from a constant stream of collective imagery, headlines, memes, cultural noise. It’s less about a single event than about the rhythm of how information feels. In this piece, there’s a sense of missed connection, two figures reaching toward each other, separated by flame. “YAY” floats like distant encouragement, maybe false optimism. The animation heightens that tension, as if the image itself is stuck between trying and failing to connect.
Nina Chanel Abney - Digital Blue, 2025 - Photography Garrett Carroll
You are concerned that your work is legible and accessible - what initially set you off on this approach? Clarity can be a point of entry, not an endpoint. I want the viewer to recognize something familiar, even if they can’t immediately name it. Accessibility isn’t simplification, it’s a way to invite engagement. Once the viewer steps in, the work can unfold into more layered or contradictory readings.
Can you talk about the use of text in your work - how do words interact with the visual elements? Why ‘YAY’? Text functions as both image and rhythm. A word can punctuate a composition the way a drumbeat punctuates a song, it sets tone and tempo. “YAY” felt ironic here; it’s an easy exclamation that complicates itself when placed among tension, disarray, or indifference. I like when language collapses under its own optimism.
You are known for the social tension in your work, yet the figures here appear relaxed - what’s going on? Surface calm doesn’t negate underlying chaos. The figures might seem at ease, but the environment is unstable. I’m drawn to that dissonance because it mirrors the everyday, a coexistence of humor, exhaustion, and unease. The work often holds multiple emotional registers at once.
Nina Chanel Abney - Digital Blue, 2025. Photography Garrett Carroll
Is it more important that people understand your intended message, or are you more interested in how they interpret your work? Interpretation is essential. I’m less concerned with a singular “message” and more with what happens between the viewer and the work over time. The image should unfold slowly, revealing itself in fragments. My intention and the viewer’s reading aren’t oppositional, they coexist, influence each other, and sometimes contradict. I think meaning is a conversation, not a conclusion.
You’ve used the word blue as a title in a few of your works, can you tell us if the color holds a particular significance for you and can you describe your decision-making process when choosing your color palette? Color carries history, political, spiritual, emotional, but my choices are largely intuitive. I use it to build tension, to shift mood, to mislead. In this series, each work is titled after a color that dominates the background, suggesting both individuality and collective structure, like frames in a film strip or fragments of a larger flag.
When did you first become aware of geometric patterns, and can you remember what initially appealed to you about them? Geometry came naturally; it’s part of visual language everywhere: games, grids, architecture, the city. I use geometric systems as a scaffold for chaos. The structure gives the work rhythm; disruption gives it life. Spray paint or gesture can break the grid, reminding you that precision and improvisation can coexist.
Nina Chanel Abney - Digital Blue, 2025. Photography Garrett Carroll
What do the numbers and the symbols signify in this work in particular? They’re both serious and unserious, codes without stable meaning. Sometimes they reference systems of order, data, time, currency. Other times, they’re stand-ins for absurdity, for the viewer’s impulse to decode everything. A “2” might point to the two figures, or it might be there simply because the form holds visual weight. I like when symbols refuse to behave.
Your work often addresses complex themes including race, power, and identity, how do you balance those themes with your use of bold, often ‘playful’ imagery? Playfulness is part of the truth. I don’t see joy and critique as opposites; they coexist. The bright palette, the humor, the absurdity, they’re not disguises, they’re reflections of how complexity feels in real life. My experience isn’t only about tension or struggle; it’s layered with moments of levity, contradiction, and possibility.
Take a closer look at Digital Blue, 2025.
