RETNA (Marquis Lewis, b. 1979)
Untitled Pair (2016)
Acrylic on canvas,
Size: 48 x 48 inches EACH (122 x 122 cm)
Signed: recto by the artist
Provenance: Private collection USA, from the artist
PRICE: on request
These two original paintings from RETNA’s Untitled Pair (2016) exemplify the artist’s distinctive calligraphic language at a moment when his visual lexicon had achieved full maturity and global recognition. Executed in dense layers of black acrylic over white grounds, the paintings function as twin totems, each balancing rhythm, geometry, and gesture with the precision of ancient script. RETNA’s hieroglyphic forms are not literal words, but symbols of communication itself, fusing influences from Arabic, Hebrew, Asian, and Latin typography into an urban codex that oscillates between the sacred and the street. In 2016, RETNA was expanding beyond his Los Angeles origins into major international exhibitions and collaborations (including with Louis Vuitton and contemporary mural commissions), refining his palette and compositional restraint. These canvases reflect that evolution: stark, architectural, and meditative, they translate the energy of graffiti into a language of abstraction, where repetition becomes ritual and mark-making becomes mantra. As a pair, they form a dialogue, two panels in conversation, unified yet distinct, embodying RETNA’s mastery of scale, movement, and symbolic rhythm.
