Xenz

Xenz, one of the UK’s best-known street artists, was born in 1974 in Hull, England. A graffiti artist since fourteen, the disused warehouses of his hometown provided large, ready canvases for Xenz to acquire a penchant for murals, moving away from his original inspiration of the New York graffiti scene. During this time, he developed his “sense” tag, which evolved into his moniker, Xenz, pronounced “zenz”. Moving to Bristol, a decade of painting there saw Xenz working alongside renowned UK graffiti crew TCF, Banksy, Inkie, and others, during which he developed his graffiti-based style into the landscapebased dream-worlds we see now.

With his artistic roots in graffiti, a spray can is integral to Xenz’s work, but it does not work alone. Xenz finely brushes into existence branches and butterflies, but also uses drips and smudges to portray the leaves of a tree or the beautiful plumage of a bird, creating a unique blend of graffiti and fine Impressionism. For inspiration, Xenz travels, particularly to Asia, and with the sights and views collected, paints from memory, spontaneously and deftly creating landscapes that capture a particular natural atmosphere, beauty, or the relationship between. Xenz’s work reflects a fascination with nature, wildlife, and plants, and the depiction of these subjects draws from impressionistic strokes used in Chinese painting, but in the Xenz way – with a spray can. Of his murals, Xenz hopes to create infinite depth, such that viewers feel they can walk into his murals.

In 2015, the makers of Dr. Who commissioned Xenz to paint the Tardis, and in 2017 Banksy invited Xenz to paint in the Walled Off Hotel in Palestine. Xenz has exhibited extensively, in New York, London, Miami, Ibiza, New Delhi, Sydney, Basel, and more. His work is held in private and corporate collections worldwide, demonstrating successful establishment first as a street artist, then as an internationally respected studio artist and muralist based in London.

“This commission was created in my London studio after visits to the St Davids peninsula. I felt I had discovered a wonderful almost secret part of the world hidden away in the valleys and wanted to create pieces that evoke the same feelings of discovery, that illustrate the tradition of storytelling and the history of the location in which they are displayed.”