Xenz artist

His genre-defying style has captured imaginations. His work has been exhibited everywhere from Basel to Miami, from Ibiza to New Delhi and from Sydney to New York. It caught the eye of Banksy’s former gallerist, Steve Lazarides – himself a keen bird watcher – who hosted a major show of Xenz’s work at the Outsiders gallery in London. And this month you can see his most recent creations in Paradise at Nelly Duff gallery on London’s Columbia Road. 

As climate change has rapidly moved from the fringes to the centre of public discourse, there’s an increasing temptation to read Xenz’s work as political. Does he see it that way? “Even though the idea of painting a wall is talking about freedom, so there is that political element, I try not to be too political,” he says. Still, just occasionally, he does feel compelled to flex that muscle. “I did a painting called ‘Bottled At Source’ [above], because I was looking at the labels of bottled water, where they show the volcanic rock where the water comes from, and I found it to be kind of strange that they’re showing this perfect world but

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