Iron Eye Art Group and Tony Goldman present “A Conversation With A Great Friend“; a new mural at the Houston/Bowery Wall, New York

Goldman Properties is pleased to present “A Conversation With A Great Friend“, a new mural from internationally-recognized graffiti writer RETNA at the Houston/Bowery wall in New York. This is the seventh project at this iconic site, previously adorned with the paintings of Keith Haring and Os Gemeos, among others.

Known for his distinctive hieroglyphs melding ancient Incan, Egyptian, Arabic, Hebrew and Asian calligraphy wih graffiti, RETNA has created a written language unto himself. These symbols convey meaning with each character, drawn directly from an event or dialogue experienced by the artist. Developed from a conversation with curatorial advisor, Medvin Sobio (as the title suggests, RETNA’s own great friend), this mural exists as an audio visual performance; born from a conversation and transcribed onto a surface. The ideas exchanged between these two friends, and their analogies of existence, activate the visual component of the Houston/Bowery façade.

RETNA himself says, ‘No one likes to let someone use something only to have it come back broken. If we let you use it, utilize it to make it better, but don’t bring it back worse than when you got it. In life, we are all part of a cycle- we all have to be mindful of our responsibilities and take care of the gifts we are given. In the end, we are not the owners of the universe, but custodians doing the rounds…’

RETNA’s unique script reads the following phrases across the wall:

‘All the great ones are conscious of universal truths’
‘Watch the heartbeat in your wrist- a precise pulsing beat of life’s drum- with loss of timing you are ill’
‘The power of the world always works in circles’

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Listen to the conversation: http://soundcloud.com/digital-retna/a-conversation-with-a-great-friend

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RETNA was born in Los Angeles in 1979. Solo presentations of RETNA’s work have been presented in collaboration with New Image Art Gallery in Los Angeles, Primary Projects and The WAREhouse at the Margulies Collection in Miami, and the Hallelujah World Tour (presented by Andrew Valmorbida and Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld) which traveled to exclusive locations in New York and London. RETNA was included in the 2011 blockbuster exhibition Art In the Streets, presented by director Jeffrey Deitch at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. In May 2011, he was commissioned by the Pasadena Museum of Art to paint its façade in its entirety. A month later, he was commissioned by private jet mogul Thomas Flohr to paint a Bombadier Global Express VistaJet, as part of his active fleet. RETNA lives and works in Los Angeles.

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goldmanproperties.com / digitalretna.com /  midcity-arts.com

An ambitious project involving numerous international contemporary artists and disused Military airplanes is set to make it’s debut on January 28th at the Pima Art and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. The Boneyard Project: Return Trip will include artists Andrew Schoultz, How & Nosm, Nunca(Brazil), Retna, and Faile who will all paint their own individual airplanes, along with cockpit from Saner(Mexico). We took a trip to the desert to get you these exclusive preview photos.

The concept for resurrecting the no longer active airplanes was conceived in spring 2010 by Eric Firestone, and organized with curator Carlo Mccormick. Also on display will be previous work from Eric Firestone Gallery’s Nose Job show that took place last year featuring artist such as Aiko, Bast, Crash, Daze, El Mac, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Futura, Erik Foss, Tara Mcpherson, Richard Prince, Lee Quinones, Kenny Scharf, and many more. We suggest that if you are near Tuscon to not miss this event!

Source: Juxtapoz / The Boneyard Project

Retna teams up with Primary Flight and paints Brimstone in Wynwood District of Miami during Art Basel.

The Black Magic print is now available at Iron Eye Publishing

“Black Magic”
Five color hand-pulled
fine art serigraph on archival rag paper
38.5 x 55 inches
Limited Edition of 30

For inquiries please contact prints@ironeyepublishing.com or visit www.ironeyepublishing.com

The Retna Fuel Print is now available exclusively at knowngallerystore.com

PRICE: $600

to inquire, please email sales@knowngallery.com or visit knowngallery.com

Last month we told you about the Italian painter who turned a Piaggio P.180 Avanti into an art installation.

Now as part of a partnership between private jet charter and ownership firm VistaJet and Bombardier Aerospace, acclaimed street artist RETNA has hand-painted a unique work of art on the tail of a VistaJet Global Express XRS.

The $60 million luxury aircraft, an ultra long range corporate and VIP high speed wonder, will be the new star of VistaJet’s fleet of 31 private jets.

Drawing from a wide array of influences including gang graffiti, Asian calligraphy, Incan and Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Hebrew and Arabic script, RETNA’s vision is designed to be a new and unique “international visual language.

The high-flying work of art was just officially unveiled at EBACE 2011 in Geneva.

The project comes on the heels of VistaJet’s and Bombardier’s sponsorship of RETNA’s “Hallelujah World Tour,” presented by Andy Valmorbida and Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, which launched in New York in February and will continue throughout the year in cities including London and Hong Kong.

Check out the Bombardiers for sale on on JamesList.

[$60 Million Global Express XRS Art Jet on JamesList]

View all  photos at Getty Images

Last night saw the opening of LA graffiti artist RETNA’s Hallelujah World Tour in London and we at Hookedblog headed over to see if the show lived up to all the hype. The private view was held in the vast Old Dairy popup space in Bloomsbury tucked away in a little side street. Having previous hosted the Richard Hambleton exhibition back in November we were familar with the space and it’s location on Wakefield street which is just as well as out apologetic black cab driver didn’t know where the street was!

The show certainly did not disappoint, the vast space was packed with RETNA’s large scale works on canvas, paper and and various metal objects. We were a little skeptical but the stunning brush work in some of the pieces certainly justify all the hype this artist and his work has been receiving. The evening saw the London art crowd in full attendance along with London socialites, super models and fashion designers all making for a very flash evening. The show is running until the end of the month and we suggest you do not miss the opportunity to experience this work in person. Below are a selection of photos we took last night.

MORE PHOTOS: Hooked Flickr