‘White Collar Crime’ is a hand-painted multiple comprised of Xerox collage, silkscreen, enamel, and ink on a wooden box which demonstrates Retna’s signature approach to mixed media works. Executed in 2010, this work takes an appropriated fashion advertisement and completely reworks it with the tightly controlled scrawling text the artist is renowned for. With stunning contrast of black, white, and gray tones, the somber play of colors adds to the dynamic and dramatic display presented in the composition. This work was exhibited at New Image Art’s ‘Desaturated’ show, a solo exhibition of Retna’s work presented in 2010 in Los Angeles, CA.

Contemporary graffiti artist Retna (b. 1979) was introduced to the L.A. mural scene at an early age, leading one of the largest graffiti art collectives in the city since high school. Through the appropriation of fashion advertisements, Retna reinvents them with intricate line work, complex layering, a powerful range of color, and a completely unique calligraphic lettering style. Fusing elements of fine art and graffiti into his multifarious compositions, Retna combines visual linguistics, urban poetics, and a timeless power unique to his specific approach, exploring an eclectic range of mediums including graffiti, photography, and painting. The artist has exhibited at venues throughout the world, with shows at L.A. Art Machine (Los Angeles, CA), The Don Gallery (Milan, Italy), Yves Laroche Galerie d’Art (Montreal, Canada), and Art for All (Malaga, Spain), among numerous others.