In Oslo, Norway, curator, producer, and founder James Finucane has restarted his street art operations “after a long postponement due to COVID.” The enterprising individual heads Street Art Oslo, “an online platform and IRL network of artists, curators, producers and scholars dedicated to improving conditions for the production, reception and dissemination of street art and its associated movements in Oslo and the surrounding region.” In addition to facilitating new urban art interventions, the organization also offers street art tours and hosts workshops for a wide range of ages and abilities.
In July, Street Art Oslo invited English street artist Xenz to participate in a run of four projects spanning over three weeks, commissioned by a local residents’ association. By the month’s end, Xenz finished his first work, titled ‘The Secret Garden,’ on a plot neighboring the city’s renowned Rodeløkka gardens. “Several of Xenz’s latest works have been made under the title ‘The Secret Garden,’” a press release for this endeavor notes. “That´s precisely why it was natural for Street Art Oslo to bring in the experienced artist.”
These gardens, the oldest allotment gardens in Oslo, were “Originally built as a retreat for the inner-city working class in 1907.” Wikipedia explains that allotment gardens are essentially community gardens, “available for individual, non-commercial gardening or growing food plants.” Today, the gardens at Rodeløkka are comprised of “151 summer cabins and associated plots, each overflowing with colorful plants and wildlife.”
After touring Rodeløkka with board chair Kari-Anne Ingesin Stenberg, Xenz got to painting. On a sunny day, viewers might not even the notice the mural’s existence. The artist renders a soft, lush scene absolutely akin to the reality of its surroundings. Soft clouds nestle into a rich, blue sky, and foliage extends upwards from the foreground as if it had roots in the actual soil below. A slight softness to the artist’s touch prevents the scene from becoming starkly photorealistic. However, it is this softness which allows ‘The Secret Garden’ its magic — only the flowering vines that frame the facade betray its origins in paint rather than reality. This provides viewers with the secret sense that they’re peaking into some parallel reality.
Finucane spoke to this impressive effect, stating, ““Xenz was the obvious choice for this wall, but the similarity between his latest paintings and the surrounding environment is really quite remarkable. This is one of the many reasons why I’m so happy to be able to bring him to Oslo for this project.”
Regarding the mural, Xenz offered, “There are so many things I want to say about these images but what I realise is my art isn’t about words, it’s about the place. It has become about blending in, not standing out.” Born Graeme Brusby in 1974, Xenz studied at Edinburgh College of Art and has been a working artist for over 20 years. His street art career began with graffiti, which he began painting at age 14 “at just 14-years-old, inside the derelict warehouses of Hull, England,” according to the artist’s bio. “Gradually, he has developed a completely distinctive and experimental style, where he uses spray cans to paint landscapes inhabited by birds and butterflies.”
Xenz has “painted alongside members of the renowned graffiti crew TCF” and also worked with notable names like Banksy and Inkie. His wrk has been found in exhibitions from the United Kingdom, Miami, and New York to Basel, Ibiza, New Delhi, and Sydney. While he’s now based in Rome, the artist will spend the rest of his monthlong stay in Norway tending to an intensive painting schedule that “includes projects in [the] neighboring town [of] Sandvika as well as a commission for Swedish-owned construction company Skanska.” More to come on the secret gardens of Xenz as the artist continually avails them to us.
Xenz: website | twitter | instagram
Street Art Oslo: website | facebook | instagram
