From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
RETNA (born Marquis Lewis 1979) is a contemporary artist, primarily recognized for
graffiti art . He was born and raised in
Los Angeles ,
California , and started his career in the early 1990s. He developed a distinctive
constructed script which is derived from
Blackletter ,
Egyptian Hieroglyphics ,
Arabic , and
Hebrew calligraphy, as well as more traditional types of street-based graffiti. In addition to exhibiting at institutions and galleries in
Los Angeles ,
Miami ,
London ,
New York and
Hong Kong , Retna has done advertising work for brands such as
VistaJet ,
Louis Vuitton , and
Nike . His artwork adorns the cover of
Justin Bieber's
Purpose album that debuted in 2015. Retna has many high profile patrons, including fast food magnate
Sam Nazarian .
Career
His hieroglyphic style artwork has also been seen in the Lower East Side on the
Rivington Street Wall near Bowery.
[1]
Museum projects
Public projects
In 2016 he was commissioned to paint the side of the 24 story public housing building, Edificio Cuauhtémoc, in the
Tlatelolco zone of Mexico City.
[3]
Selected solo exhibitions
Controversy
Retna has also repeatedly been in the news for violent acts, which have included: destroying artworks, an accusation of
assaulting his ex-girlfriend
Brittny Gastineau , and vandalizing a Los Angeles gallery.
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
References
^ Perler, Elie.
"Street Writer RETNA returns to tag the Bowery" . Bowery Boogie . Archived from
the original on 25 May 2022.
^
"RETNA: Para mi gente" . www.moca.org . Retrieved 19 November 2019 .
^
"RETNA intervino el edificio Cuauhtémoc en Tlatelolco" . Nice Fucking Graphics! . 13 February 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2019 .
^
LA Artist RETNA presents first UK solo exhibition in six years at Maddox Gallery, Mayfair by Victoria Forbes-Watson, at The London Musings; published October 2, 2017; retrieved October 27, 2018
^
LA Artist RETNA Brings his Calligraphic Graffiti to Frieze Art Fair by Keith Estiler; at HYPEBEAST; published October 3, 2017; retrieved October 27, 2018
^
RETNA goes MANO A MANO , at Juxtapoz, published September 2017; retrieved October 27, 2018
^
Retna: Mano A Mano at Wall Street International Magazine; published October 21, 2017; retrieved October 27, 2018
^
"Retna Had a 'Tantrum' in an LA Gallery" . artnet News . 9 November 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2019 .
^
"LAPD Is Reportedly Investigating Street Artist RETNA for Vandalizing a Gallery That Declined to Include His Work in Its Show" . artnet News . 21 November 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2019 .
^
"Brittny Gastineau Pal Says She Wasn't the Aggressor in Fight" . Us Weekly . 13 June 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2019 .
^ Shenton, Zoe (17 June 2014).
"Kim Kardashian's BFF Brittny Gastineau and Marquis Lewis want to put violent attack behind them" . mirror . Retrieved 6 August 2019 .
^
"LAPD Is Reportedly Investigating Street Artist RETNA for Vandalizing a Gallery That Declined to Include His Work in Its Show" . artnet News . 21 November 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2019 .
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Retna .
Official website