FACULTY: paint

RETNA - New Paintings and Works on Paper

Michael Korn Gallery located Los Angeles dedicated it's entire space to bring us new works by legendary street artist RETNA. From September 15th, ongoing now till October 27th, 2012. Retna and Michael Korn Gallery join forces and offer a tour de force with this current solo show that includes new works on paper and various paintings.

Retna aka Marquis Lewis, has a particular interest in the visual writings of ancient cultures, from Arabic and Persian to Hebrew and Native American. Both hieroglyphics and the graceful tradition of ink calligraphy inform his paintbrush while the angles and curves of his improvised alphabet echo the architecture of a mosque or Asian temple. Equally evident in Retna's nuanced script is the artist's interest in Modernist abstraction.

Retna's works are informed by contemporary artistic precedents that include Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Glenn Ligon—all artists using text and image to expand the boundaries of painting and confound visual interpretation. Retna's works are simultaneously conceptual, literal and abstract. The artist is able to synthesize all of these precedents and influences into a seamless and elegant abstract painting.

The artist adopted the alias Retna from the Wu Tang Clan track Heaterz: "Kinetic globes light will then shine, burns your retina." He typically paints to music and allows the rhythmic beat and flow to partly guide his intuitive and emotive script. Beyond the fluidity of music, Retna's work contains imagery and histories that are vast and diverse. The symbols and pictographs of his signature script are inlaid with his multicultural background of El Salvadorian, Cherokee, Spaniard, Pipil and African-American lineage.

Below are selected shots of RETNA's new solo show at Michael Korn Gallery

"Ya Es La Ultimate Vez"
Enamel, acrylic and crystalina on canvas

96 x 84 inches

"Sentence me to standards"

Enamel, acrylic and crystalina on canvas

96 x 103 inches

"Optic Nerve"
Enamel, acrylic on canvas
84 x 276 inches

"Standed Hands"
Enamel, acrylic and crystalina on canvas
96 x 64 inches

"Song of the Opera"
Enamel, acrylic on canvas
96 x 72 inches

"Eastern Realm"
Enamel, acrylic on canvas
96 x 72 inches

"I strike with words that will pierce through your heart"

Enamel, acrylic and crystalina on canvas
96 x 72 inches

Outer walls of Michael Korn Gallery

In 2009, Retna was featured in an episode of Ovation TV's American Revolutionaries, a series profiling innovative and impactful artists. Most recently, Retna embarked on his Hallelujah World Tour in 2011, which made exhibition stops in New York and London. Retna's work can be found here in Los Angeles in a permanent large-scale mural at the West Hollywood Library alongside the work of Shepard Fairey and Kenny Scharf in addition to other street side murals and various billboards throughout Los Angeles.

To learn more about Retna, his works and upcoming exhibits, please visit:

www.digitalretna.com

To learn more about Michel Korn Gallery, featured artists and upcoming exhibits, please visit:

www.kohngallery.com

Around town and finding RETNA of MSK on & off the streets of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles based street artist Retna, born Marquis Lewis of African-American, El Salvadorian and Cherokee descent, whose moniker was chosen from a Wu-Tang Clan song. Is best known for his hieroglyphic script based works, comprised of an original created alphabet that combines multiple influences from ancient Incan, Egyptian, Arabic, Hebrew, Asian calligraphy with graffiti elements. Starting out in the mid-nineties making murals on walls, trains and freeway overpasses throughout the city of Los Angeles. Retna gained acclaimed when Usher commissioned him to do a portrait of Marvin Gaye as well as a highly anticipated solo exhibit in 2010 at New Image Art in addition to his works that were featured at MoCA'a "Art in the Streets" last summer in 2011.

Here are selected shots of RETNA at various locations throughout the year on and off the streets.