Prinston Nnanna is a Brooklyn-based Artist by way of Houston, Texas, working primarily with charcoal, coffee, and acrylic inks. Mr. Nnanna is just beginning to exhibit his intimate, yet subversive, portraits. The charcoal drawn works on hand-toned paper have stood out in the group shows they have been a part of. Recurring motifs include butterflies, bees and geometric patterns that all have iconographical weight within the artist’s practice. His state goal is to “depict the elegance of the Black figure at the same time as reconstructing the image in which society has painted people of colour.”
He earned a BA in Arts at Texas Southern University (2016). While studying at Texas Southern Prinston was granted the opportunity to study abroad in Paris, France. There he focused on his cultural studies of the African Diaspora which still has a great impact on his works today. Mr. Nnanna then went on to earn his MFA at The New York Academy of Art(2019).
Over the last year Nnanna’s work has been included in several group shows, Paper View, The Hole, Grand Rapids; Drawn Together Again, The Flag Art Foundation, New York; Breaching the Margins, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids and as a finalist in the 2019 AXA XL Catlin Art Prize Exhibition, New York Academy of Art, New York. Nanna won first prize for the 19th Annual Citywide African American Artists Exhibition, Houston (2017).