RETNA
RETNA (Marquis Lewis, b. 1979, Los Angeles) is a contemporary artist known for a script of his own invention, drawn from Egyptian hieroglyphs, Arabic and Hebrew calligraphy, Blackletter and the hand styles of Los Angeles graffiti. Working in acrylic, enamel and crystalline on canvas, and on walls from Los Angeles to Miami and beyond, he has exhibited in galleries and museums internationally and collaborated with Louis Vuitton and Nike.
WORKS
About the Artist
RETNA is the name Marquis Lewis took as a teenager painting in Los Angeles in the 1990s. Out of graffiti he built something of his own: a lettering system that reads like a language, with characters drawn from Egyptian hieroglyphs, Arabic and Hebrew calligraphy, Gothic Blackletter and the Old English hand styles of Los Angeles gang writing. The marks are laid down in long vertical strokes of acrylic, enamel and crystalline, so that a canvas or a wall carries a text nobody can read and everybody can feel.
His work moved from the street to galleries and museums in the 2010s, with solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, London and Hong Kong, murals on buildings around the world, and collaborations with Louis Vuitton, Nike and Justin Bieber, whose 2015 album Purpose carries his script on its cover. His canvases are held in private and corporate collections internationally.
Gol Art offers original RETNA works on canvas, each signed by the artist.