Retna Paintings Now Available

Retna Paintings Now Available

With over fifteen years of prolific works under his belt, Retna is one of the most praised calligraphers and amongst the wealthiest street artists working today. Beginning his career at an early age, Marquis Lewis, aka Retna, was still in high school when he led on of the largest and most innovative graffiti art collectives in L.A.

Retna’s distinctive style of constructed script has caught the eye of many in the art world, as he continues to derive influence from Blackletter, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Arabic, and Hebrew calligraphy, as well as more traditional types of street-based graffiti.

What is most alluring about the artist, is his ability to take his background in graffiti and completely turn the form around into something abstract. Retna’s canvases bring a revival to traditional graffiti art and allow him to combine “visual linguistics, urban poetics, and appropriated fashion imagery to explore an eclectic range of media, including graffiti, photography, and painting.”

“I am a graffiti writer and a fine artist. I come from the lineage of street writers but my work has evolved into fine art. I just want to be taken as serious artist.” Retna. 

His paintings are vibrant and overpowering. They continually play between the form of fine art and graffiti, power and opposition, and tradition and advancement. Retna’s use of feather-tipped paintbrushes allow the structured characters to have an airy movement as the swoop across the canvas. His paintings serve as a ‘retina’ through which we are all able to view and experience our urban environment through contemporary art.

Guy Hepner is pleased to offer several paintings by Retna available for purchase. Inquire via email or phone about prices to buy Retna artwork.