Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld and business partner Andy Valmorbida once again bridged the gap between art and fashion at last night’s opening for Los Angeles street artist RETNA’s Hallelujah world tour, drawing a sea of socialites, downtown types and general pretty people.
Notables including Bryanboy, Stavros Niarchos, Jamie Johnson, Irina Lazareanu, Olivier Zahm and Nur Khan and the impeccably chic Carine Restoin-Roitfeld flocked to the warehouse-style gallery housed in the former Bloomberg building on Washington Street to see RETNA’s newest project, a series of black and white paintings inspired by global typography as well as a monumental sculpture installation dealing with similar themes. The works featured influences ranging from Old English graffiti to east Asian calligraphy and even Incan and Egyptian hieroglyphics, and the show, curated by fellow Californian and founder of the popular lifestyle brand RVCA PM Tenore, undoubtedly blurs the increasingly obscured lines between street culture and high art.
Hallelujah marks the second show this pair have hosted during New York Fashion week, following retrospective for Richard Hambleton, the so-called “godfather of street art,” during the height of the Spring 2009 shows. “I have a fascination with street art, but I haven’t only been looking for street artists,” notes Restoin-Roitfeld. “We mostly try to follow our instincts and what we like when we see the works of different artists, so of course there is going to be some continuation between them, but I think street art is becoming very big right now, and [Retna] is one of the most talented artists I’ve ever seen… I wanted to give art lovers in New York a chance to see his work, and I think this is going to make a lot of noise for him.” As to the title of the show, a seemingly loaded word, Vlad remains in the dark: “He’s always kept [the meaning] very secret. He’s never even told us about it.”