Robert Berman Gallery Presents the First Collaborative Exhibit of Mac and Retna

Vagos y Reinas

Curated by Brett Aronson

September 26 to October 17, 2009

Gallery C2

Robert Berman Gallery is pleased to present Vagos y Reinas, an exhibition of selected works by artists and muralists Mac and Retna. Vagos y Reinas marks the first time these longtime collaborators have exhibited in a gallery together.

Mac and Retna are unlikely partners. Mac is a photorealist: His work in spray paint makes the medium dissolve into a sea of classical touches. Retna is all brush: He is known for his abstract embellishments and calligraphic font. Collaboration is a constant in graffiti, but from the first time that Mac and Retna worked together on a mural it was clear that each painter brought out the best in the other; that the precision of one balanced the looseness of the other. In the five years since, Mac and Retna have collaborated on more than 20 murals around the globe, producing some of the most memorable, monumental work in recent memory. Vagos y Reinas is their widely anticipated first collaborative gallery show.

Mac and Retna’s murals are points of neighborhood pride, and it has made them local heroes. They often get involved in the communities they paint in, speaking in schools or mentoring young artists. Their murals have also become local landmarks—so much so that their piece on La Brea and 3rd was included in a recent Los Angeles Times ad campaign featuring iconic people and places that represent the city.

Vagos y Reinas brings their outdoor work inside. The title of the show, which translates to “vagrants and queens,” references Mac and Retna’s street-infused styles and celestial depictions of women. On exhibit are large-scale pieces that represent some of their best work together. For example, with “Gracias a la Vida,” an 11-by-11-foot canvas, Mac and Retna exalt a photo of a beautiful woman into a divine being. It is a perfect example of their use of graffiti and fine art, combining spray paint with Alphonse Mucha’s whiplash curves, motifs pulled from Byzantine art, and a powerful image that recalls Gustav Klimt.

The exhibit also serves as a retrospective, showcasing individual work from each artist before and after they met, as well as brand new pieces that demonstrate their maturation. “I think that our development as individual artists has made our collaborative work that much stronger and more unique,” Mac explains. Mac will show his extremely technical photorealistic canvases, while Retna plans to create a floor-to-ceiling installation of his calligraphic font.

The exhibition coincides with the release of Alianza (Upper Playground/Gingko Press), a 96-page hardcover book that documents their partnership over the years. Vagos y Reinas is open to the public from September 26 to October 17, 2009, during normal gallery hours, Tuesday through Saturday, 12 to 6 p.m.

ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY
At Bergamot Station Arts Center
2525 Michigan Avenue, Suite D5/C2
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Galleries D5, C2
Tel: D5-310.315.1937 / C2-310.315.9506 Fax: 310.315.9688

web: www.robertbermangallery.com
email: berman@artnet.net

Husk Industries is proud to present the release of “American Revolutionaries,” the first print in new series of limited serigraphs by Los Angeles artist Retna. AW / MSK

“American Revolutionaries” is the first of four prints to be released as part of “The Americana Series.” The series embodies the recent evolution of the artist’s letter form, brilliantly executed through a rich array of traditional “Americana” colors. The series will consist of four large scale serigraphs, each distinctly unique in form, yet unified in a vibrant palette of blue, red, silver and cream. “The Americana Series” will be limited to four editions of fifty, with each print signed and numbered by the artist.

The first print “American Revolutionaries,” is to be released July 20th via Husk Industries at  www.huskwest.com/retna

For more info on Retna visit / www.digitalretna.com

Retna “American Revolutionaries”
4 Color Serigraph
Printed on Stonehenge 320gsm 100% Cotton
Archival Paper
Dimensions 28″ X 39″

Edition of 50
Signed, Numbered and Dated
by the Artist
$120 + S&H

-Husk Industries

Juxtapoz for the month of August in the year 2009 decided to split the covers: Newsstand featuring the Clayton Brothers, subscriber featuring Mac. Figuring both artists have distinct styles, it made for a nice juxtaposition, get it? Besides showing the newest work from the Clayton Brothers and Mac, August 2009 has features on Natalia Fabia, filmmaker Stacy Peralta, Lisbon-based, London-residing artist Vhils, and cultural and fashion icon, Shawn Stussy. We also have a fantastic feature on our hometown artist, Henry Lewis. Amanda Fairey, curator of Subliminal Projects, also makes an appearance.
We also have Greg Gossel, The New Yorkers, Basco Vazko, and Jonathan Yeo in here, as well as Michel Gondry’s toilet paper. Come, come get it.

From MAC:

Damn!….I saw the new issue of Juxtapoz (#103) and was blown away to see one of my paintings used as the cover of the subscriber edition!….and inside there’s a 14 page interview with me by David Choe, who tries to get me in trouble….along with a portrait photo at the beginning taken by Estevan Oriol…
Wow.
After years of reading Juxtapoz, and never actually being in Juxtapoz…here I am… on the cover of Juxtapoz. Not sure how that happened but I feel really honored! Aside from all that it looks like a great issue with some other great art in it…
I’m just posting the cover and the first spread of the interview here for now…maybe more later when I have time…. and you can also get a copy at Juxtapoz.com

My man from the CHI KC just went to Vietnam to shoot the fucking horrifying aftermath of the US’s use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam war…

KC writes:

During the Vietnam War, the American military sprayed over 18 million gallons of the defoliant named “Agent Orange” on Vietnam. The military claimed it was harmless and was only used to clear the leaves off of trees to spot North Vietnamese soldiers. The harmless aspect of Agent Orange would later be challenged, and proved wrong. The dioxin in Agent Orange can lead to many health and enviromental issues. Health issues range from liver cancer to severe birth defects and miscariages. The dioxin in Agent Orange can actually change a person’s DNA, reacting in diferent people in diferent ways. One of the reasons why studying the effects of Agent Orange is such a monumental task. Not to mention the potential political ramnifications of a full scale study of its effects. Enviromentally, Vietnam and its landscape were forever altered once the herbicide rained from the skies onto the land. Animals disapeared, jungles died never to come back, livestock, fish, and some game became carriers of dioxin, passing it on the human population. People that were not yet born, or never came in to direct contact with Agent Orange, became victims of its effects through the land they lived in. Today, over 3o years later, the effects of Agent Orange are stronger then the day it was sprayed.
The following photos are part one of a larger series. These photos focus on the residents of 2 Friendship Villages, Vietnam Friendship Village outside of Hanoi and Tu Du Friendship Village in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). These Friendship Villages care for and house supposed victims of Agent Orange’s destructive dioxin.

-Check out more of his photos from this project plus many more at his site HERE

To See more photos from Revok’s recent trip visit :  REVOK1

It starts out ;

RVCA . VA . AWR. MSK. RVCA. VA. CLUB. CA

BJ PENN.JD PENN.REGAN PENN.PARILLO.UNCLE RUDY. TRACTOR. VITOR BELFORT. DR. G. SUGAR SHANE NELSON. IRON CHEF EVAN. KJ THE POET. PM TENORE. RICHIE RICH. VA . DIAZ BROS. LUCAS. MAKUA. LEO VIERO. RV. JOHNSTONE. FRANCO. ANTONI. HENRY. APPLE. KRON. YVES. GORMAN. PETE ROCK. PUNKER. BRADLER. EMERSON. MC CULLY, YOUNG SEF.

Then I painted a wall behind the ring that reads:

RVCA. WE ARE A BROTHERHOOD OF AN ANCIENT TRADITION OF OUR ANCESTORS WHO FIGHT WITH HONOR AND RESPECT FOR OUR ADVESARIES ALTHOUGH WE HAVE COME TO HUMBLE YOU. DONT TRIP. VA

BRIMSTONE.

BEHIND ME STAND A HUNDRED MEN, WARRIORS OF THE AGES, THROUGH OUT THE STAGES OF OUR LIVES, WE HAVE SPARRED AND BRAWLED OUR WAY TO VICTORY, WE STAND AS ONE TIMELESS MOVEMENT, NOW LETS BEGIN THE RITUAL OF OUR FATHERS AND BROS. MANO A MANO.

Then My friend Young Sonia, came to visit me and took me to chill on the beach and relax the mind.