XENZ

My new mural in Wynwood Miami 📍70 Nw 28 st. Curated by @studiojamesbrazil and @jtsnap #miami #wynwood #murals #streetartmiami #xenz

Watch yer wheelie bins I’m tellin’ ya Lovely trip out to the shire to see the zimulator.

The alive mural in Coconut grove, Miami was a public art installation created in 2019 commisoned by @coconutgrovemiami . The project was curated by @studiojamesbrazil who invited @xenzogram to paint local wild life and then got @natashatm to projection map various animations onto the mural. @osbphi @sin_acosta @juanrg92 wired various sensors into parts of the mural that activated different projections. Some of the animations were created on the actual building by painting parrots and bees in various frames of movement. Each night for about three months the buildings mural was illuminated by the videos which altered as people walked by. The movements around the wall and touch sensors would trigger animations that changed the look of the background scene encouraging interaction with the mural and the building itself. . I recently got news that the building is due for demolition and I was truly touched by the messages about the mural and how it has enhanced the area and people’s daily routines over the past 7 years. @coconutgrovespotlight In some ways I really love the ephemeral nature of street art how it doesn’t ever last. It’s because it is up against the elements. When ever I walk away from a wall for the last time I never expect it to survive long I always hope it does. The work has to fend for its self on the mean streets. It can become a real light. Illuminating a space that would rarely be noticed. That’s what i really love about painting a public space. Especially to know that the local community take it in to their daily lives and and start to try to protect it and enjoy it and then to actually notice that’s its going to go. That doesn’t happen with everything and that’s why we do it to try leave a place better than when we found it.

Here are some details from a mural in Oslo in 2025. It takes a while for my work to ‘sink in’ personally. I spend a lot of time thinking about what’s next, well constantly really. It’s been like this since I was a kid. Some call it anxiety some call it enthusiasm. I often find looking back on my most recent work to be a bit frustrating or even a bit depressing in the weeks and months just after I complete a project although, it’s important to share what’s currently happening or what you have just done and update your website etc. most of the time I do this as a reflex response and over share without really observing it. I do find it a bit of a challenge mentally. But then again sharing anything on social media involves a bit of either cringe or rage… … it’s not because I dislike my work it’s just because it feels like a breakup just after I finish. . I invest every part of my soul into a piece, every single thought and action so it’s kind of a bit deflating to know it’s over, i have to let things process in my head. IIt’s nothing to do with pride or ego. It’s mostly about depleted energy or being too close to the trees to appreciate the forest. I make all my work up on the spot which involves me balancing on that “fine line between”… I know it would be easier to do photo realism and just copy pixels onto a wall or just some geometric patterns but it wouldn’t satisfy me. I’m need to kind of have a sense of chaos that I can bring order to. I kind of Magic trick. Personally copying a design or a photo isn’t that. So I get lost in my work like a whirlwind romance.. it becomes hard to look at for a while. But then after time eventually I see some pictures of some work I did three or four projects ago and think. Oh. Yeahhhhh that. Wow. It IS amazing. And honestly I see it like a the viewer probably does. (I hope) Not like the artist in me does or did. Not many can understand what I’m saying..I need to let the dust settle I know this probably isn’t normal. Who really wants normal. Oh no did I write too much. Did I post it too early in the morning 😩😬

Detail from a bar I painted at Glastonbury festival in 2023. @shangrilaglasto

Birds and flowers …. Installing the trellis system designed by @studiojamesbrazil so eventually real vines become part of the mural leaving elements of the painting showing through. Hopefully and possibly also providing nesting spaces for some of the many birds and insects that came to watch me paint.. a really amazing project. ❤️ 👨🏽‍🌾👨🏼‍🎨 @jtsnap #livingwallart #nature #mural #wynwoodartdistrict #streetarteverywhere

“This beautiful place where we get to exist together“ Astronaut Victor Glover Here’s some clips taken while I added some final details to the mural I recently completed in Miami. Curated @studiojamesbrazil and @jtsnap

Here are some photos of my most recent mural painted in Miami. There’s is a lot to see here so will spread it over the next few posts. I worked with @studiojamesbrazil and @jtsnap James got in touch explaining he had some designs for a building that had a ‘living wall’ with a trellis system for vines growing up it and that he wanted to have that blend into a mural painted over the rest of the building. I could do anything i wanted as long as it focused on the local wild life but also that of North Africa and the Mediterranean….and it has to have an olive tree somewhere in it. Ok Hold my frozen mint strawberry mango and lemon daiquiri…. X

Det er lite som slår følelsen av å se en kunstner forvandle en grå og trist vegg til et kunstverk! Under årets Oslo Street Art Festival malte Xenz et veggmaleri som strakk seg over en 80 meter lang murvegg i to platåer. Vi har hatt gleden av å arbeide med Xenz ved flere anledninger, og vi blir aldri lei av å se hvordan han bygger en verden der det før ikke var noen. Vi tror nok at de om lag ett tusen ansatte som har kontorer vis-a-vis denne veggen også setter pris på å kunne se verket "Four Seasons" når de nå ser ut vinduet🤩 Xenz (f. 1974) er utdannet ved Edinburgh College of Art og har jobbet som kunstner i over 20 år. Han startet med graffiti allerede som 14-åring, ofte i rivningsklare lagerhus i Hull i England der han vokste opp. Etterhvert har han utviklet en helt særegen og eksperimentell stil. Xenz har vært bosatt i Bristol der han jobbet med det anerkjente gatekunstlaget TCF, samt kunstnere som Banksy og Inkie. Han har også deltatt på utstillinger i Storbritannia, Miami, New York, Basel, Ibiza, New Delhi og Sydney. Han bor nå i Roma. Dette kunstverket er så langt at det er vanskelig å fange det i ett bilde, og vi anbefaler derfor å se det med egne øyne: 📍 IF hovedkontor Drammensveien 264 Lysaker Foto: Ian Cox @wallkandy #oslostreetartfestival #gatekunst #habitus

The old cherry blossom tree part of the spring section of my four seasons mural recently painted in Oslo. If you look carefully the branches are actually spelling out my tag #xenz @oslostreetartfestival

Electric Blue 🪼

A line is a dot that went for a walk. A drawing is simply a line going for a walk. Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see. ‘ Paul Klee That’s probably one of my favourite artist quotes. It’s about finding the zone. The state of flow. Well its about making a start and letting the idea tell you what it wants to be. I use my tag xenz which is what I call myself. That all began when I was young in the 90s getting into street art (this is the umbrella term that also includes graffiti in my opinion as well as statues and mosaics and fancy lights and stuff ) i digress. It is the starting point for most of my work.. it helps me form the structure in things. Even if I’m reacting against it it helps me start things. Like the dot that went for a walk . These paintings are like I’m taking lettering for a walk into a psychedelic dream in my mind. . I say graffiti. Because I’m using my graffiti tag. But ever since I got into it ironically it’s what I’m also trying not to do whilst actually doing it. As confusing or poetic as it sounds. The tag is like the roots of a flower. That’s just my starting point. That dot. Most will enjoy the lines that remain as branches but I also view many forms in nature especially twisted vines and roots as letterforms. It’s inspiring for me to look at tangled trees and see birds and flowers then try to make something in response. . . All my work come from memories. On a completely unrelated but some how linked topic talking of inspiration I recently watch the most beautiful film it’s called Parthenope by Paolo Sorrentino, it’s so mesmerising the colours the photography and the sound track. It inspired the tempo of this reel. I also like making little films of the process in which I make art. This also inspires more ways of creating things. But it can also steal the magic to so I try find a balance. I also like reading and writing and making music. It’s not about being a master of these but it is about exploring ways of observing and translating and communicating. Mostly just enjoying ideas. For enquiry about this painting that I called ‘Ultramarine’ please contact @oliviaconnellygallery