Salvations
2015
This striking large scale canvas by celebrated street artist Retna, born Marquis Lewis, showcases his iconic invented script that fuses ancient calligraphic traditions including Egyptian hieroglyphics, Hebrew, Arabic, and Old English lettering into a densely layered visual language. Rendered in shimmering black and silver with characteristic drips that reference the spontaneity of graffiti, the work commands immediate attention and fills any space with raw spiritual energy. Collectors prize Retna canvases for their museum caliber presence and the artist's rapidly ascending market trajectory following high profile collaborations and institutional recognition.
- Medium
- Enamel, acrylic, and crystallina on canvas
- Dimensions
Est. Current Value
Collectors with works by Retna
Artists in conversation
Hicham Benohoud
Moroccan · b. 1968
Benohoud merges Arabic calligraphic traditions with contemporary visual language in large scale works that carry similar spiritual weight and cultural fusion to Retna's invented script. His monochromatic layered compositions share the same dense symbolic energy rooted in ancient writing systems.
eL Seed
French Tunisian · b. 1981
eL Seed creates large scale calligraffiti works that fuse Arabic script with street art spontaneity, directly paralleling Retna's fusion of ancient calligraphic systems with graffiti aesthetics. Both artists operate between gallery and urban contexts using invented or stylized script as bold visual language with spiritual and cultural resonance.
Niels Shoe Meulman
Dutch · b. 1967
Meulman coined the term calligraffiti and produces large scale black and white works that transform letterforms from graffiti and calligraphic traditions into abstract visual systems, mirroring Retna's monochromatic palette and script based abstraction. His work shares the same tension between raw street spontaneity and refined mark making seen in Only God's Hand Can Strike Me.
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