RETNA x Warhol
ON VIEW
March 15 - April 30, 2018
RECEPTION
Thursday, March 15, 6-8pm
LOCATION
521 W 23rd St
New York, NY
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RETNA: Born Marquis Lewis on March 24, 1979 in Los Angeles, CA, RETNA joined the Los Angeles mural scene as a teenager, developing his text-based signature style featuring intricate line work, complex layering, and a wide range of color. RETNA picked his moniker from the lyrics of a Wu Tang song that resonated with him in his youth. His paintings are characterized by a geometric script he developed while looking towards Egyptian and Native American traditional symbols. Though his marks resemble the calligraphy of multiple cultures (and he maintains that he composes his works in English and Spanish), the writing does not belong to a particular language. Retna explains, “I want my text to feel universal. I want people from different cultures to all find some similarity in it—whether they can read it or not.” He also stated that “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.”
His works are in the private collections of Jeffrey Deitch, Swizz Beats, Usher, and Dave Chappelle, among many others. RETNA’s large-scale mural across the eastern exterior of Restoration Hardware’s new gallery in West Palm, Florida. He has collaborated with major fashion brands including Nike, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Helmut Lang and designed the artwork for Justin Bieber’s ‘Purpose’ album cover. RETNA also acted as the artistic designer for the San Francisco and Washington National Opera’s production of AIDA. In 2013, he was invited to create an art installation inside the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA.
He has exhibited at venues throughout the world, notably including L.A. Art Machine in Los Angeles, Don Gallery in Milan, Yves Laroche Galerie d’Art in Montreal, and Art for All in Malaga. The artist continues to live and works in Los Angeles, CA.
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Obsessed with celebrity, consumer culture, and mechanical (re)production, Pop artist Andy Warhol created some of the most iconic images of the 20th century. As famous for his quips as for his art—he variously mused that “art is what you can get away with” and “everyone will be famous for 15 minutes”—Warhol drew widely from popular culture and everyday subject matter, creating works like his 32 Campbell's Soup Cans (1962), Brillo pad box sculptures, and portraits of Marilyn Monroe, using the medium of silk-screen printmaking to achieve his characteristic hard edges and flat areas of color.
Known for his cultivation of celebrity, Factory studio (a radical social and creative melting pot), and avant-garde films like Chelsea Girls (1966), Warhol was also a mentor to artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. His Pop sensibility is now standard practice, taken up by major contemporary artists Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami, and Jeff Koons, among countless others.
Chase Contemporary is proud to present an Exhibition sure to be remembered. The RETNA-Warhol exhibition. Andy Warhol, whose name alone sparks a conversation that transcends time and cultures. Warhol is an iconic artist whose works are displayed in galleries and museums globally. He is among the greatest artists of our lifetime. Best known as the leader of the art movement known as Pop Art.Warhol's company included the legendary Jean-Michel Basquait. In addition to his friendship with Basquiat, with whom he collaborated on several artworks with, he had associations with Julian Schnabel, David Salle and other so-called Neo-Expressionists, as well as members of the Transavantgardia movement in Europe, including Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi.
RETNA was born in Mid City Los Angeles and started his art career at the young age of 8. A graffiti writer who roamed the streets during the prolific street art movement of the 80's and 90's, he became a legend. In the late 80's, the young RETNA was painting murals on buses, trains and walls that he called his "canvas." As a youth, he joined a group of other young graffiti writers and traveled throughout the country painting everywhere and everything they could find that needed a touch of paint. This became his passion and his life.
Today RETNA is among the top graffiti artists in the world. In addition to exhibiting at institutions and prestigious galleries in London, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Hong Kong (and the list goes on), Retna has done work for brands such as VistaJet, Louis Vuitton, and Nike.
RETNA explains that he was inspired to pursue art after seeing graffiti on the freeway. He has become known for his long and geometric script, which he developed while looking towards Egyptian and Native American traditional symbols. Though his marks resemble the calligraphy of multiple cultures (and he maintains that he composes his works in English and Spanish), the writing does not belong to a particular language. Retna explains, “I want my text to feel universal. I want people from different cultures to all find some similarity in it—whether they can read it or not.”
Chase Contemporary is proud to have these two artist side by side. The RETNA-Warhol exhibition is a natural fit, two iconic and inspiring artists. In 2014, RETNA was featured in Hong Kong together with Keith Haring in a show that many still talk about today, and we follow up by presenting another show that includes this young artist, RETNA, and the legendary Warhol.
