Sten Lex

Bio

STEN (Rome, 1979) and LEX (Taranto, 1980) are among the best known and most appreciated street artists on an international level. In 2008, BANKSY invited them to participate in the Cans Festival in London, along with the biggest representatives of international stencil art. In 2012, they created an external façade for the MACRO Museum in Rome, under the guidance of Bartolomeo Pietromarchi and, in the same year, they exhibited their works in the Magda Danysz gallery in Paris and Shanghai. Starting from that exhibition, the duo began to work on abstract forms, a style they continue to use to this day, depicting abstract impressions of industrial and urban landscapes. STEN&LEX have shown their works at various locations around the world, including the MACO Museum of Contemporary Art in Oaxaca (MX), the MACRO in Rome (IT), to Carandente Modern Art Gallery in Spoleto (IT), the Centre for Engraving and Prints (BE), the Street Art Museum in St Petersburg (RU) and La Condition Publique in Roubaix (FR).

Antrodoco 2021 “Paesaggio” (Landscape)

Location of piece: Wall of a historic building at the entrance to Antrodoco

Description:
This black-and-white piece was inspired by the environment of its surroundings. The Landscape depicted in the piece is created through the manipulation of geometric forms, which involves the use of optical perspective (the further you are from the wall, the more clearly defined the work becomes). The dynamic created by this near-far juxtaposition underlines the space of demarcation between the identity of the place itself and what can be found “outside” or beyond the space delineated by the building and the town itself, since, as you approach the piece, you can focus on its materiality, on its fundamental characteristics. The same can be said for the sense of identity for the local heritage of this place, which is made all the more noticeable by completely immersing oneself in the experience of everyday life in Antrodoco when viewed from within the wider frame of the natural landscape that surrounds the town.

Techniques:
Stencil-poster: a technique created by STEN&LEX in 2010. The stencil is cut out of paper and glued to the wall, becoming part of it. Characterised by the chiaroscuro effect created through the interplay of light and shadow in the black-and-white colour palette used, the plein-air nature of this piece is highlighted as the quality of natural light changes throughout the day.

Materials: Tissue paper, Quartz paint, Wallpaper paste

Calcata 2022 “Confini XVI”

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Location of piece: Wall of the Town Hall of Calcata – Piazza Risorgimento 1 – Calcata (VT)

Description: The piece is part of the “Confini” series.
The first mural of this series was made in Gibellina in 2016.
It is a geographical abstraction, a composition that reshapes geographical boundaries and creates new ones.
The piece was created using the “Stencil Poster” process, which was developed by the artists and consists of creating a stencil directly on the wall, which is then destroyed in the process of creating the artwork in order to give life to the final piece.

Techniques: Stencil-poster: a technique created by Sten Lex in 2010. The stencil is cut out of paper and glued to the wall, becoming part of the structure itself. Characterised by the chiaroscuro effect created through the interplay of light and shadow in the black-and-white colour palette used, the plein-air nature of this piece is highlighted as the quality of natural light changes throughout the day.

Materials: Paper, Quartz paint, Wallpaper glue