BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAYLooking at the cavalcade of new Retna paintings for his “Hallelujah World Tour” New York debut, currently on display at a pop up shop in West Soho, you’ll see elements of anthropology, historical academia, and the current street penchant for the remix, or mashup.
Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Retna is one of a handful of today’s Street Artists with a background in graffiti taking the art form into the abstract, making it feel genuinely fresh and forward-looking. No doubt the literal meaning on the canvas might add an extra dimension to the piece but that’s probably not what the artist had in mind when he began exploring and developing his style as a graffiti writer in Los Angeles. It’s about the jolting energy of the street. Best viewed from the distance – his kinetic letters and symbols cannot remain still. The bold handstyle is spare, elegantly unpretentious and perfectly anarchistic.
How do you spell Retna? (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The effect of this stunningly lit and somehow crowded traveling show (despite a 10,000 square foot exhibition space) is mystery, monastery, in motion. It is also very exciting to witness in person; A periodic splash of red in the monochromatic scheme of white, black, and silver.
Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Using the concept of the graffiti tag as a starting point to craft a secret language of symbols, the canvasses are messages known to him and his inner circle alone. His approach and style has been compared to hieroglyphics, the Egyptians, Incas and Eastern calligraphy but is probably more analogous to the coded graffiti of Brazilian pixação that his southern contemporaries are spraying in black throughout favela streets right now.
Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)
RETNA “The Hallelujah World Tour”
560 Washington Street, NYC
Thursday, February 10,2011 – Monday, February 21,2011
Daily Hours: 10 AM – 6 PM
General Inquiries: 212 242 2905
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
Collettivo FX and Saturday Prayer Services in Sicily She’s a saint! A patron saint for Catholic believers who looks out for the poor, the ill, and shepherds and shepherdesses, who lived in France in ...
It's our first Images of the Week of the new year and we've missed you! The city is recovering from disasters and triumphs and heartbreaks and infatuations as normal. The police union is attacking...
It’s good to see artists stretch themselves creatively, going outside of their comfort zone, hopefully, and discovering new techniques and approaches to their art. “You cannot stay at the same level ...
Tomokazu Matsuyama and Deih killed it this year in Wynwood, no doubt and curator Alan Ket slayed with the solo show by Vhils at the primary gallery on the compound. Art Basel brings the crowds to ...
Lapiz quotes Karl Marx; "Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes" when he talks about the new ‘Opium Den’ stencil he has completed on a street in Munich, Germany. “Religion is the opium of the p...
