{"id":3615,"date":"2011-02-11T09:27:47","date_gmt":"2011-02-11T14:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/?p=3615"},"modified":"2011-02-14T03:22:29","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T08:22:29","slug":"retna-takes-new-york-by-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/the-bomb\/2011\/02\/11\/retna-takes-new-york-by-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"~RETNA TAKES NEW YORK BY STORM"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nRETNA – at the opening of his first ever NYC solo show – last night – THURS FEB 10, 2011 – in a pop-up downtown west side New York City space – presented by ANDREW VALMORBIDA and VLADIMIR RESTOIN ROITFELD – and, yes they did BLOW everyone away – it was that great !!
\nit was beyond great – it was: MAGIC.<\/p>\n

ANDY VALMORBIDA & VLADIMIR RESTOIN ROITFELD PRESENT:
\nRETNA: THE HALLELUJAH WORLD TOUR
\nFEBRUARY 10, 2011 – FEBRUARY 21, 2011
\n560 WASHINGTON ST – WEST SIDE, NYC
\nDAILY HRS: 10 AM – 6 PM<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nthe magic started from the get-go – with a long black tunnel – entrance. it felt like a museum show already – yep. the production, the design, lighting, and concept of the show, the venue itself large with high ceilings – was that great. but this time around VLADIMIR and ANDY – had the most important element down too – the work. the work was superlative, cutting edge and well, damn well – historic.
\nand this is just a pop-up, dudes. better get over here this weekend – it comes down Monday Feb 21, 2011.
\nsomething about art – rhymes with fashion week !!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nyeah he’s happy. no doubt about it. great show.
\nco-presenter (ANDY) ANDREW VALMORBIDA.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nthe very first impression – it reminded of the KEITH HARING shows – when he was at his peak. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nwow. candle. calligraphy. mid-eastern, Hebrew, Persian, global ethnic LA tag – all the way !! <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nthe paintings looked amazing in the space. great lightning. great spacing. nice title cards. beautiful beautiful lighting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nthe artist – RETNA greets his fans !!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nRETNA aka MARQUIS LEWIS is a native born and bred in Los Angeles, California in 1979. that makes him something like 32. a bonafide street artist – who came up from the streets – and made his “debut” in the mid-1990s – he has “participated in over 30 international exhibits” with “countless works in the public realm” – i.e. on the streets. <\/p>\n

“An integral fixture in the Los Angeles art scene – since an early age the transcendent nature of RETNA’S work has allowed him to seamlessly transverse from the unregulated urban landscape to institutional galleries across the globe.”<\/p>\n

this is his first – debut – solo show in New York City. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nCARINE RESTOIN ROITFELD – VLADIMIR’S MOM and I think- one of his biggest fans.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n(L) PM TENORE with RCHARD SACHS.
\nPM TENOT RE is credited with being acutrator int he shows ppaperwork – but whn presed – he diad no he “only brought them altogther’. good job from the man who does such a brillant job g for RVCA !!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nthe man himself – young curator VLADIMIR RESTOIN ROITFELD – with clothing designer STACEY BENDET.
\nVLADMIR has an eye for detail and design, that’s for sure. even the typography on the painting title cards – is ace.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSTAVROS NIARCHOS – an integral part of this dynamic art ‘production’ crew.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nand yah – there were a lot of beautiful women swirling around, for sure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nRETNA, Los Ninos De La Calle, 2011. 96 x 72 in., mixed media.
\nthis piece of RETNA’S stood out, pun intended !! – as it was one the few, maybe the only – that was multi-dimensional. it’s image elements raised from the canvas in a shallow relief, as well as painted.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nRETNA. Midnight Stalker (dipych), 2010. 72 X 120 in., oil & enamel on canvas.
\nhand-wrought calligraphy and ‘code’.
\nmost were flatly painted . . . which is not to say they didn’t have their contrasts !!
\nthe art of the muted color contrasts: silver on white. white on gray. gray on white. white on white. black on white. shiny on matte.
\nthat’s about the sum of what’s interesting us all – at the moment. esp. calligraphy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nRETNA. It Doesn’t Hurt, 2011. 96 X 64 in., Acrylic on canvas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nBradley, Raspa and Cheeto.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nChris Brown made the opening.
\nCheeto showed me a photo – he had caught of him – earlier on in the evening. damn.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nR.D. – visiting from L.A.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nalso in from L.A. – REVOK !!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nalso making the scene – on the left: PATRICK GRIFFIN – one of the<\/em> best of the best of the local underground NYC scene.
\ndon’t believe me ?
\ncheck out: PATRICK GRIFFIN<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nGREG LaMARCHE with his wife MIKEALA.
\nGreg LaMarche is also a big fave of mine – as well as alot of other people’s – for his own brand of ‘tagging’ and ‘block’ calligraphy – which although very stylized and visually compelling – both from a design and ‘fine art’ point of view – is very very different from Retna’s take.
\n MIKAELA – told me Greg has shows coming up in TORONTO and BOSTON.
\nyou might know him better as S.P.ONE back in the day.
\ncheck out: GREG LaMARCHE<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nJULIAN GONZALEZ and MATT LALANDU<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nindependent filmmaker and apparently big artlovers fan: ALLEN CORDELL<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\na wild new addition to the scene: COLIN T. McELROY – just 4 months into life in the East Village – from San Francisco. the West Coast. and yes, he says he misses surfing and can’t believe the snow – but is digging life in the big apple. and was here with a nice video camera.<\/p>\n

COLIN told us L.A. based RETNA works with 2 West Coast crews – MSK and AWR. MAD SOCIETY KINGS and ANGELS WILL RISE. sometimes when they all work together – its MSKAWR – and they add the 7th letter – G (for God).<\/p>\n

something about COLIN – speaks out – VOLCOM !! his dad designed their famous rock . . . logo.
\ncheck out: VOLCOMICS RELEASE PARTY\/FUSE GALLERY\/MAY 19, 2007 – scroll down – YOUNG CELEBS !!<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nRETNA<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nRETNA, detail<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nRETNA, detail<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nRETNA, detail<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\none last look . . . KNOW THY CODE.
\nVLADIMIR RESTOIN & ANDY VALMORBIDA PRESENT – RETNA: The Hallelujah World Tour\/NEW YORK CITY\/FEB 10-FEB 21, 2011.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nthen back through the looking glass . . .<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\neven – the signage was great. like I said at the top: looked more like a museum show – than a pop-up.
\nif this is the way things are going – get in, and get out, make a big impression . . . and spread some lasting magic.
\nI would say – things are definitely heating up.<\/p>\n

PHOTOS COPYRIGHT: NANCY SMITH <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RETNA – at the opening of his first ever NYC solo show – last night – THURS FEB 10, 2011 – in a pop-up downtown west side New York City space – presented by ANDREW VALMORBIDA and VLADIMIR RESTOIN ROITFELD – and, yes they did BLOW everyone away – it was that great !! it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3615"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3710,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3615\/revisions\/3710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}