Untitled Early Painting 2000 96x51 Huge - Mural Size

Year2000

Not Signed 

Condition Good - There is tagging on the back of the painting from his crew MSK. 

Not Framed 

Purchased fromPrivate Collector 2016 

Provenance / HistoryThe 146” wide x 95’ height with 3 Panels each 48"wide, painting was discovered in Downtown Los Angeles at a residence he left and shared with Saber. It was created during the period when Retna worked with MSK aka Saber and his crew the Seventh Letter. Most likely during the 1990's actual date unknown. 

Certificate of AuthenticityArt Brokerage 

LID100534

RETNA - United States

Art Brokerage: RETNA American Graffiti Artist: b. 1979. RETNA (born Marquis Lewis 1979) is a contemporary artist, primarily recognized for graffiti art. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, and started his career in the early 1990s. He developed a distinctive constructed script which is derived from Blackletter, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Arabic, and Hebrew calligraphy, as well as more traditional types of street-based graffiti. In addition to exhibiting at institutions and galleries in Los Angeles, Miami, London, New York and Hong Kong, Retna has done advertising work for brands such as VistaJet, Louis Vuitton, and Nike. Retna cites eclectic artistic influences, such as illuminated manuscripts, Renaissance imagery, and contemporary text-based art. Religious architecture and décor have long been a focus of his. He has mentioned Degas, Klimt, Basquiat, Haring and the Art Nouveau movement as historical references. Particular to his graffiti writing, Saber and David Choe are cited as influences, among others. Retna has developed a constructed script which he uses in much of his work. Each block of text is a system of hieroglyphs, calligraphy and illuminated script that has been influenced by Arabic calligraphy, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Hebrew, Blackletter, and Native American typographies. Retna's script communicates personal messages and poetry which are not immediately decipherable to a pedestrian audience. Retna contributed to the overall graphic and visual arts elements for the re-opening of a Nike store in Las Vegas. Listings wanted.