RETNA has teamed up with Supra for a special edition of Terry Kennedy’s signature high-top Society.
SUPRA is pleased to announce the release of a limited edition Society designed by acclaimed Los Angeles graffiti writer, Retna. Retna is a long time friend of SUPRA founder, Angel Cabada, and the pair’s long time creative relationship resulted in this collaboration.
Retna’s work can be seen on the streets of Los Angeles where he grew up, but he emerged from the LA MOCA “Art In The Streets” show with “real” art world recognition. MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch said in Juxtapose, “All the best art is past, present, and future combined, and this is what Retna is doing.” The Michael Kohn Gallery, where Retna’s work was recently shown, described him as, “Simultaneously conceptual, literal, and abstract … Retna’s work contains imagery and histories that are vast and diverse. The symbols and pictographs of his signature script are inlaid with his multicultural background of El Salvadorian, Cherokee, Spaniard, Pipil, and African-American lineage.”
The extra tall Society, with its renowned Velcro straps, is cloaked in black painter’s suede with “SUPRA,” written in Retna’s complex hieroglyphic style, screened across the entire shoe in white. The high top has red and blue jersey mesh accents, padded red and blue jersey mesh lining, and it’s constructed on a red vulcanized sole with smooth white, single wrap foxing. The shoe comes with a Retna signature sock liner and hang tag.
Because of Retna’s history of working with charitable causes, a portion of the shoe’s proceeds will be donated to Plaza de la Raza, a community arts center in Los Angeles’s Lincoln Heights neighborhood devoted to art education (plazadelaraza.org).
Only 413 pairs of the Retna Society were created, sequentially numbered, and they will go on sale Saturday, February 9, 2013, at Factory 413, SUPRA Paris, SUPRA NYC, and factory413.com. There will be an in store event at Factory 413 in Los Angeles on February 9 with Retna in attendance.