RETNA Untitled Blue Silkscreen (from "Provocateurs" for the Chicago Art Alliance) 2014, Silkscreen in colors on archival paper with deckled edges. Hand Signed. Numbered. Publisher's blind-stamp. Unframed.

American street artist RETNA is best known for his  letterforms and specialized, unique typography. Combining urban poetics, visual mapping, and appropriated fashion imagery, RETNA imbues a wide range of media, including graffiti, photography, and painting, with his signature style. “It is important to have art in the streets as a cultural fabric that is woven into the city for the upliftment of civic pride,” he once stated. RETNA is also known for appropriating fashion advertisements that he then layers and complicates with intricate line work, text, and an incandescent color palette. 'Untitled' from the “Provocateurs Print” series published by the Art Alliance of Chicago, features text-like signs. While they do not signify a specific meaning or relate to a specific language, they suggest universal comprehensibility by virtue of their forms’ familiarity. Hand signed and numbered on lower recto (front) from the limited edition of 200. 

RETNA, born Marquis Lewis, (American, b. 1978) was introduced to Los Angeles's mural culture at a very early age. While still in high school, he led one of the largest and most innovative graffiti art collectives the city has known. As an integral part of the Los Angeles art scene since the mid-1990s, RETNA has participated in over thirty international exhibitions and has contributed to countless public murals including the Houston/Bowery wall in New York City (2012). Yielding an unmistakable aesthetic that integrates appropriated contemporary photography, graffiti, traditional painting, and a unique glyphic style, he has emerged as one of the most prolific graffiti artists in the contemporary art world.

SIGNATURE

Hand signed and numbered on lower recto (front). Bears publishers' blind stamp

PROVENANCE

Provocateurs Print Portfolio