World-renowned artist Nina Chanel Abney brings together representation and abstraction in her colorful public works, paintings, and collages – and now she’s taken it all to the digital space with “Super Cool World.” The collection of 5,080 NFTs (non-fungible tokens) comprises hundreds of traits Abney has created that reflect her collage-like approach to visual media.
“I created each NFT in “Super Cool World” to be unique, which took a lot of time and creativity. To start, I created over 200 different elements by hand. Then, I partnered with an illustrator to help vectorize all those elements and a developer to help with the generative process,” Abney said. “While sticking to a more neutral style where everyone could find something, my inspiration was creating a bunch of different figures to help represent multiple people.”
Nina Chanel Abney
Abney wanted “Super Cool World” to relate and reflect her style and previous works, so she included cartoonish figures, flat planes of bold color, overlapping shapes, scattered numbers, letters, and symbolic objects. Doing so transformed her collage-like approach from traditional art into digital media.
As someone who is always looking for new and innovative ways to transform her artwork, Abney created the generative PFP-based project as a different way to interact with fans and collectors of her contemporary culture-focused work. Each “Super Cool World” NFT also acts as an invitation to future exclusive merchandise, collaborative product releases, air drops, events, and surprise raffle drawings.
“I was excited and really inspired to embrace NFT as a new medium. When I was first starting this collection, it was a huge learning curve. But it was worth it because I know the increasing potential and capabilities of NFTs, and I truly think it’s a great way to create deeper engagement with the art community,” she shared.
“It’s also been great to introduce my art to the web3 and NFT community. There is a lack of diversity for people of color, queer people, women involved in the digital asset space or not getting recognized enough. I know so many artists that are interested in the space, but are scared to go forward because it can seem overwhelming and confusing. I hope this collection and my artistic journey can inspire other artists from underrepresented communities to jumpstart their own NFT and digital art, and more importantly have fun and play with their own creativity in space.”
You can find “Super Cool World” available at GODA, aka Gallery of Digital Assets, a trusted and curated source for contemporary artists looking to explore digital as a new medium. Abney cofounded the space with entrepreneur Shaun Neff, recording artist/producer Pharrell Williams, and gallery owner Todd Kramer, among others. The team there curates a collection that includes renowned traditional artists as well as up-and-comers.
Abney shared that the idea of GODA began when “I didn’t know what the best approach was for the web3 and digital space. If I was having this problem, I knew other contemporary artists were as well. After meeting with my co-founders, we created GODA to provide a space conducive to experimentation for artists with a goal to release projects that are compelling, but still evolving. GODA serves as a guide for artists in all aspects of the process of making an NFT project come to life from ideation and creative process to completion and execution.”
GODA works closely with the artists to navigate the digital art space while keeping things organic and true to their own creativity. They then execute seamless, impactful drops that value the art at hand and extend that user experience to collectors as well.
Image courtesy Nina Chanel Abney Studio
Image courtesy Nina Chanel Abney Studio
Image courtesy Nina Chanel Abney Studio
To learn more about Nina Chanel Abney, visit ninachanelabney.com.
Source: design-milk