Artist Marquis Lewis, aka Retna, is an American graffiti artist, fine-artist, interior decorator, clothing designer, R&B art director, and member of the influential MSK/AWR Seventh Letter Crew. He is known for his long and geometric script since the early 1990’s, a technique which he developed while looking towards Egyptian and Native American traditional symbols. Though his marks resemble the calligraphy of multiple cultures, 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.”

Since first creating a name for himself, RETNA has become an “eternal broadcaster” of sorts, shining a light to the kinetic urban soul of Los Angeles. The name RETNA itself evokes the timeless power, movement and visual vibrancy behind the artist’s acclaimed work. His work merges photography with graffiti style and paint, time with color, couture with street culture, the spiritual with the sensual, and fluidity with grit. Whether his paintings hang in a gallery or wall on the streets of Los Angeles, he is a valiant and innovative unifier of culture serving as a retina through which we view the urban journal of contemporary art.