Sten (born 1982, in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

) and Lex (born 1982, in

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

), known as Sten & Lex, are two

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

street artists. Sten & Lex have been doing stencils on the street since 2000/2001 and today their work is part of the urban landscape in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and in their home town of

. During that early period in Rome, and Italy in general, there wasn't a strong stencil culture such as there was in France, and Sten & Lex are seen by many as the pioneers of "

Stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...

Graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

" in Italy and were the first to be considered "

stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...

artists". All the work of Sten & Lex results from an individual path that developed far from art academies and design institutes and far from a classic

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically Epigraphy, inscribed, Printing press, mechanically transferred, or Word processor, digitally represented Symbols (semiot ...

and

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

background. The duo are best known in the history of

-making for introducing the halftone stencil technique, in which the greater part of their stencil portraits is composed of thousands of lines. They usually produce portraits of anonymous people they have photographed themselves or found in family photos album. In 2008, they took part in the

Cans Festival Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigra ...

: Banksy invited thirty-nine artists from around the world, including,

Prism Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...

Blek ''Blek'' is a 2013 puzzle video game for iOS and Android by Kunabi Brother, a team of brothers Denis and Davor Mikan. The player draws a snakelike black line that recurs in pattern and velocity across the screen to remove colored dots and avo ...

, Faile,

Vhils Vhils (born 1987) is the tag name of Portuguese graffiti and street artist Alexandre Manuel Dias Farto. Life Alexandre Farto was born in Portugal in 1987. He studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London. Vhils lives and works in London and ...

Vexta Vexta is an Australian stencil artist and street artist from Melbourne, Victoria. Career Beginning her career as an artist predominately working on the streets of Melbourne and Sydney, New South Wales, Vexta is now considered to be one of Aus ...

, to exhibit their work in an abandoned tunnel near

Leake Street Leake Street (also known as the Banksy Tunnel) is a road tunnel in Lambeth, London where graffiti is tolerated regardless of the fact that it is against the law. The street is about 300 metres long, runs off York Road, Lambeth, York Road and u ...

in South East

Sten lex banksy, cans festival, londra 2008

In 2009, they started producing what they call "

Poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...

". The technique derives from the union of two of the main techniques of

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant graff ...

and

. They glue a

cut from paper on the wall and paint over it. They then destroy the matrix and apply its scraps to the wall, thus allowing them to become part of the work itself. The bits of matrix applied to the wall wear out over time, producing work in a state of constant change. Unlike

work in general, the images thus created cannot be reproduced, rendering each piece original and unique. A book documenting this technique entitled "Stencil Poster" was published in 2009 by Drago. In 2011, they entered the contemporary art world with large-scale pieces in museums, such as the

Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome The Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, it, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma, italic=no, usually known as MACRO, is a municipal contemporary art museum in Rome, Italy. The museum is housed in two separate places: a former brewery in Via Nizza, ...

(MACRO) in Rome, Italy and the Carandente Museum in Spoleto, Italy. That same year, they participated in major international festivals, such as the "Walk This Way" Festival in Koge, Denmark and the "Nuart" Festival in Stavanger, Norway, contributing to the growth of their fame and popularity. 2012 saw the production of monumental projects that led to Sten Lex being recognized as emerging artists increasingly in demand. They were invited to the "Living Walls" show in Atlanta, USA; the Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image imprimée in La Louvière, Belgium, as well as to the "Outer Spaces" outdoor show in Poznan, Poland and the "Open Walls" in Baltimore, USA. In 2012, they also presented their work in a large solo show at the

Magda Danysz Gallery Magda Danysz Gallery is an art gallery in Paris, France, owned by Magda Danysz, an art dealer and art curator. Magda Danysz Magda Danysz started in the art business in the early 1990s, when she opened her first art space in 1991 when she was 1 ...

in Paris. The Shanghai, China branch of the same gallery granted them another solo show in the Spring of 2013, referring to the duo as among "the most innovative at the moment." In anticipation of their solo show at Rome's "Wunderkammern" gallery in January 2015, AGRPress referred to them as "among the most internationally recognized Italian street artists." In 2017, StenLex worked wit
Distrito Tec
México to do what it is considered the world's largest stencil. Their work consists of four thousand square meters of surface. Specifically, 1,952 square meters of black and white paint, plus 1,600 square meters of paper strips. The curatorship of the six works that make up the project is in charge of the art and design agenc
ARTO
Studio.

Videography

* 2009 Painted Poster, Via delle Conce, Rom
PAINTED POSTER on Youtube
* 2011 Stencil Poster, Walk This Way, Køge, 201
STENCIL POSTER, KØGE, 2011 on Youtube

Bibliography

* ''Stencil Poster,'' Drago, 2009 * ''Sten & Lex'', Drago, 2010 * Maximiliano Ruiz, ''Walls & Frames'', Berlin, Gestalten, 2011.

References

External links

* * Gallery : Magda Danysz Gallery (Paris -Shanghai) http://www.magda-gallery.com * Gallery : Wunderkammern (Rome) https://web.archive.org/web/20150203140709/http://www.wunderkammern.net/stenlex/stenlex.htm {{Authority control Italian artists 1982 births Living people Art duos