Sten (born 1982, in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

) and Lex (born 1982, in

Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...

), 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, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, 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. The holes allow the pigment to reach only some parts of the surface creatin ...

Graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

" 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. The holes allow the pigment to reach only some parts of the surface creatin ...

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 the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

and

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

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 is a code name for a program under which the United States National Security Agency (NSA) collects internet communications from various U.S. internet companies. The program is also known by the SIGAD . PRISM collects stored internet ...

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 avoid b ...

, Faile, Vhils,

Vexta Vexta is an Australian stencil artist and street artist from Sydney, Australia. 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 Austr ...

, 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 legal and promoted despite the fact that it is against UK law on public property. The street is about 300 metres long, runs off York Road an ...

in South East

. 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 gr ...

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, , 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, in the Salario quartiere of the city; and a form ...

(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 17 ...

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