bio
Xenz
Xenz painted his first piece in 1987 at the age of 14. He grew up in the North East, which gave a lot of space to experiment with graffiti styles due to its isolation from mainstream popular culture. In 1993 he formed what has become one of the UK’s longest standing and most respected graffiti crews known as the tcf crew / the cities freshest. He has developed a unique approach to the artform experimenting on different media and the word graffiti no longer sufficiently describes his work. His murals are like fantasy dreamscapes and he is known for painting dramatic skyscapes and floating cities depicting the letters of his tag Xenz in a destructed architectural style.
He describes his work as Monet with traffic lights. He has mastered the spraycan and succesfully married fine art with gritty urban scrawl. He works fast and enjoys extremely large scale work. He has collaborated with the best artists in Europe often in the conception of massive murals involving up to 20 artists speaking many languages.
His canvas work explores the subconscious capturing the essence of a summer daydream or even the feeling of walking drunk in the rain at night. He decorates vip areas for the major festivals and events, decorates private interiors and also creates graphics and websites. He lives and works as an artist. He studied textiles and applied arts at Edinburgh College of Art to post graduate level.
Previous Clients
- Strongbow
- Caukus
- Cargo
- Volupte
- BBC music live
- The Big Chill
- Vertical Sound, Pimp magazine, Knowledge magazine
Solo Exhibitions
- 2007 – Solo Exhibition, Forster Gallery, London
- 2007 – For The Love, Workshop Gallery, Bristol
- 2006 – Big City of Dreams, Cargo Gallery, London
- 2002 – E Shed, Bristol, UK
- 1999 – Avant Graff, Chicane, Bristol
Group Exhibitions
- 2007 – The Bad Note, Dragon Bar, London
- 2006 – One the Seventh Day, Pimp Magazine, London
- 2005 – Big City of Dreams, This Way Up Gallery, London Natural Selection, British Graffiti Alsopp Contemporary, London (with Snug, Insa, Connor, Harrington, Astek)
- 1999 – What’s in a Name, Retrospective of Hull’s Graffiti Scene, Quay Art, Hull
- 1998 – Elle Decoration, Levi’s Flagship Gallery, London
- 1996 – By Any Means, Wasps Gallery, Edinburgh