The exhibition, set across two floors of the gallery, features a selection of new works from the prolific American artist. With a global cult following and reputation as one of the most prominent and successful street artists of our time, the exhibition will be RETNA's first solo exhibition in Europe in the last decade and will run until 28th October at Maddox's Mayfair location.
One of the top five selling graffiti artists in the world, RETNA is renowned for his bold use of line work that depicts a hybrid of language and shape. The script he creates within his work resembles an ancient alphabet, and derives influence from Egyptian hieroglyphics and other pictographic languages.
Born Marquis Lewis in 1978 in Los Angeles, California, RETNA continues to work in his home city. As a child Lewis was inspired to pursue art after seeing graffiti on the freeway. He was introduced to the Los Angeles mural scene at an early age and became a regular fixture on the Los Angeles graffiti scene, leading one of the largest graffiti art collectives in the city since he was in high school. RETNA's mixed heritage - African-American, El Salvadorian, Spaniard, Pipil and Cherokee has guided the artist's exploration of collective unity across cultures and language through his own universal text.
Known internationally for his public and privately commissioned mural projects, RETNA's iconic paintings have appeared on the Bowery/Houston Wall in New York City, Wynwood Walls in Miami and the Museum of Contemporary Art's Grand Avenue Campus in LA. Major brands have commissioned large-scale murals including Vista Jet, Louis Vuitton and Nike. His works have been exhibited internationally in Los Angeles, Miami, London, New York and Hong Kong and were featured prominently in the LA Museum of Contemporary Art's Art in the Streets exhibition in 2011. A large-scale installation of his work was featured at the San Francisco Legion of Honor's 2016 exhibition The Future of the Past:Mummies and Medicine. RETNA was the artistic designer for the visual re-imagining of the San Francisco and Washington National Opera's production of AIDA in 2016 and 2017. His work featured in the Los Angeles' Olympic bid campaign.
“At first glance, the work of the artist RETNA looks like an undiscovered ancient script: a series of hypnotic symbols—complex, beautiful and captivating. But RETNA has created an original alphabet, fusing together influences from ancient Incan and Egyptian hieroglyphics, Arabic, Hebrew, Asian calligraphy, and graffiti.” – The Economist
Are you still thinking where have I seen RETNA's work before? The artist's work featured on the cover for Justin Bieber's smash comeback album Purpose. Promiment art collector Jeffrey Deitch's private collection included works by RETNA, as do the collections of Swizz Beats and Usher.
RETNA Margraves exhibition runs until 28th October 2017. More here. Search Maddox on Barnebys here.
