xEnso - Xenz' Nelly Duff Show

Xenz

2nd - 8th November 2018

Nelly Duff Gallery

156 Columbia Road

London E2 7RG

If there is a niche for graffiti writers who paint exquisite, delicate nature pieces with a dash of fantasy landscape thrown in then a huge chunk gets filled by Hull’s finest escapee, Xenz.


Meeting Of Styles 2009



Cans Festival II, Leake St 2008



Bristol 2006 (photo 2009)


Xenz has a new solo show at scene stalwart gallery and publisher Nelly Duff.





The Golden Branch


Duffers and Dufferettes, as the gallery likes to calls its fans, will be well aware that Nelly Duff has an extraordinary knack for a lush piece of art so when Xenz casts his beadies over the eye candy hanging on the ground floor he figured that going circular would be one way to stand out among the rectangular wall fillers, now we know the circumstance of the circumference in this impressive collection.




Elegance is a word that sits very comfortably in a description of a Xenz painting though the graffiti writer always lurks among the branches, literally. As a graffiti writer the letterform must reign paramount and outdoors Xenz produces stunning landscape paintings with his name cunningly disguised within the branches and trees.


Xenz, Busk,(both written in the rock formations!) Hackney Wick 2011




Meeting of Styles 2019 (this young man was just entranced by Xenz'z mural, beautiful to see)


The painting in the show may look a million miles from any graffiti aesthetic but look closely, again the letters are subtly secreted inside the lines of the flora. Illustrated by "mouseover" on the next image - best viewed on desktop or laptop rather than mobiles or tablets




The circular paintings were inspired by the zen buddist ensō symbol, ensō circles capture a concept of fulfilment, calm, strength and most particularly, elegance and enlightenment.



A collection of beautiful watery paintings on handmade paper discs roughly a foot in diameter were painted in a very gestural manner; simple colours , dots, lines and drips were applied and left as they fell, no corrections, no smoothing of curves or sharpening of edges and a sense of grace and flow in the finished article is clear.


Sketches From The Valleys Of The Shadows





Graffiti writers love to show off their skill versatility and wit by writing alternative spellings of their monikers and Xenz was quick to spot that if you corrupt the label ensō by simply adding an x in front, you have almost got Xenz’z name ready made in there. It deserves a new form for the possessive.


Xenz'z



Xenz'z too


Xenz’z interior art has often featured wispy forest fronds and filaments frequented by flying fauna. The colourful birds flitting through the branches and hovering in front of soft petals are based on humming birds. This goes back to an occasion when Xenz was enjoying some traditional hospitality high up a Jamaican mountain when a long tailed humming bird flitted out of the forest canopy to perch on his finger like it owned it. A few magical seconds and some herb imprinted the experience in Xenz’z mind and thence into his art.


Turquoise Dreams



Humming Bird detail





Nelly Duff’s upstairs lounges is a homely snug, embodied in the slightly stained and battered looking lintels over the fireplaces. Xenz happened to notice some circular coffee cup stains and that triggered his ensō reflex, so he added some beautiful birds. There’s nothing quite as naughty as a little tagging indoors.





Gold cutting in



Flutter


All round, Xenz has produced a wheelie great show, well worth a spin. (sorry about that!)

"Round" of applause for this man please

LINKS:

Xenz website

Nelly Duff Gallery website

all photos: Dave Stuart (instagram)

Mantis - Altered State

Lord Napier, Hackney Wick
18 - 20 Nov 2010


photos: NoLionsInEngland except Howaboutno where stated


We like our street artists a bit elusive and few come more enigmatic than Mantis. The mystery revolves around the un-signed socio-political work on the streets and the comparative scarcity of paintings and prints. Mantis is a regular street defacer, his repertoire including epic stencils, defaced road signs and his own installed road signs though he has been known to freehand paint some large figurative pieces by the side of canals.


"All Fall Down", photo HowAboutNo


Quite often attribution to Mantis is process involving “definitely Banksy” followed by “not sure” followed by “not on Bansky’s website” sheepishly concluded with “oh, its on Mantis’ website”. The script goes horribly wrong when pieces are initially attributed to Grafter followed by a consensus that in fact Eelus was the painter


Mantis, not Eelus, nor Grafter



You are here (no exit)


One of Hackney Wick’s particular landmarks is the derelict Lord Napier pub hard by the Hackney Wick overground station.


BUSK


This has been derelict for years and Mantis has chosen its blackened interior to host his first ever solo show.



Painted wall background by Busk


In the first room, a granny’s living room, as comfortable as a slipper, complete with tweeting parrot simulates a world of contemporary modernity denied. A rocking chair provides a cosy perch next to a roaring fire – flames by Busk – in which Granny would sit and contemplate the sepia toned on the wall.




A couple of the finely drawn exercises have been seen out on the streets in stencil form, though it seems unlikely that they are stencils on this occasion.


Hopscotch (Hope Scotched)



The End Was Nigh


Glimpsed through the open door is the parallel exterior world of grim and congested urban landscapes and threatening spooky weirdness. Hanging on dirt streaked un-painted walls are a series of spraypaint and ink drawings on canvas and wood, celebrating a sort of retro modern architecture on one side and playing with life and death on the other.

The particular fish-eyed perspective of this ink drawing over aerosol spray on wood has the luminosity of Hopper’s Nighthawks combined with a bit of Rushka perspective.


Corner Shop


Mantis’ street work combines humour with social commentary and occasionally the humour surfaces in this show like this crushing of the Warholian legacy. A bin below this painting held a collection of empty Campbells soup tins, replica labels made by Mantis.



Recycle


Several of the paintings explore the future architecture theme, on the end wall the whole planet is covered with skyscraper buildings which chimes with the dire predictions implicit in simple but effective street pieces by Mantis.


Stop Consuming


In one corner a slot machine plays games with our fate, the buttons teasingly invite us to play or not play, the spinning reels indicate life or death and the nudges don’t deliver on the promises the labels make


Grim Reaper optional


Mantis has coyly omitted any sign that the art might be for sale, no drawing labels, no price list, in fact no indication anywhere of even the artist’s name. Self effacement is taken to the limit here. This show is fascinating just for the fact that it is by Mantis and revelatory in the undoubted quality of the drawings. The show runs for just three days and at time of writing closes tomorrow with a party, though we understand the paintings may be removed before the fun begins since it is planned to be a bit of a bop.



Oh, Now I see


Mantis is the kind of artists that delights Graffoto so we are particularly pleased that his debut show should be the subject of Graffoto’s 200th post. Happy 200th something to us - yeeeeeeeeahhhhaaaawwww

More images on flickr here