Say My Name, You Can See Me (Diptych), 2017
Signed and numbered
From an edition of 99
44 × 35 inches (111.8 × 88.9 cm.)
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RETNA (b. 1979), born Marquis Lewis in Los Angeles, is a contemporary American artist recognized for his distinctive calligraphic visual language. Emerging from the Los Angeles graffiti scene, RETNA developed a highly recognizable script that draws inspiration from a wide range of historical writing systems and traditions, including Egyptian hieroglyphics, Arabic calligraphy, Hebrew, Gothic blackletter, and indigenous American iconography. Rather than functioning simply as conventional written language, his symbols transform words and phrases into rhythmic, architectural compositions. This fusion of street culture, typography, and art history has become the defining feature of RETNA’s practice and has brought his work from the streets of Los Angeles into galleries, museums, and major private collections internationally.
*Say My Name, You Can See Me (Diptych)*, 2017, is a striking example of RETNA’s exploration of language as both communication and abstraction. Executed as lithographs embellished with diamond dust, the two-panel composition juxtaposes the artist’s bold, vertically structured script with a shimmering surface that changes subtly according to light and viewing angle. The diptych format amplifies the repetition and cadence of RETNA’s symbols, allowing the work to be experienced simultaneously as text, pattern, and image. Measuring 44 × 35 inches (111.8 × 88.9 cm.), the work is signed and numbered from an edition of 99, combining RETNA’s street-derived visual vocabulary with the refined materials and techniques of contemporary printmaking.
