Between Us refuses to resolve who is held up and who is left to fall. The title names the space the mural investigates: what exists between us is never empty. It is filled with infrastructures, ecologies, institutions, histories, and obligations that shape how we encounter one another long before we ever meet, and that decide, quietly and in advance, who is supported and who is exposed.
Between Us asks the viewer to distrust the ease of the familiar diagram, to notice that its symbols were never as separate or as innocent as they seemed, and to hold that suspicion.
This site-specific installation will form the opening of Nina Chanel Abney’s exhibition, While Supplies Last, which will be on view March 23, 2027, through July 11, 2027.
About Nina Chanel Abney
Nina Chanel Abney (b. 1982, Harvey, IL) has developed a distinctively bold style that combines representation and abstraction to harness the flux and simultaneity that define life in the 21st century. Paying homage to the sophisticated color theories of Matisse, continuing the legacy of cubists Picasso and Léger, and connecting with the synesthetic sensibilities of Harlem Renaissance greats Douglas and Lawrence, Abney brings these historical movements into contemporary pertinence while broaching subjects as diverse as race, celebrity, religion, politics, sex, and art history, that eschew linear storytelling. Beyond the canvas, she has collaborated with Jordan Brand and with Mattel Creations on a custom UNO deck, extending her visual world into culture and everyday objects. Through a bracing use of color and unapologetic scale, Abney’s work proposes a new type of history painting, one grounded in the barrage of everyday events and funneled through the velocity of the internet.
Abney has had numerous exhibitions, including at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art; Perrotin, Paris; Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles; Anthony Gallery, Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; and the Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, among many others.
Threshold Series
Between Us is commissioned as part of the Smart’s ongoing Threshold series. Launched in 2010, the initiative brings large-scale installations of contemporary art annually to the Eunice Ratner Reception Gallery in the Museum’s lobby. The prominent placement of these commissions ensures that all visitors — whether they have come to the building for a class, an exhibition, or a program — will be welcomed with thought-provoking new art.