Sten Lex

Bio

STEN (Rome, 1979) and LEX (Taranto, 1980) are an artistic duo, appreciated in Italy for the stencil art technique since 2001.
Their technique is based on the combination of mezzatinta (mezzotint) and stencils that is inspired by classical engravings and today’s prints, and that has earned them the title of “engravers of the new millennium.” In 2008, Bansky invited them to participate in the Cans Festival in London. In 2012 the duo began to work on abstract forms.
Most important works: in 2012, they created an external façade for the MACRO Museum in Rome. They exhibited their works in the Magda Danysz gallery in Paris and Shanghai; “Cross the Street” in the MACO Museum of Contemporary Art in Oaxaca (MX), the exhibition “Rinascita” at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Rome (2020), where they exhibited works such as “Mare Industriale” and “Paesaggio Urbano”.

Rome 2025 “Night Signs”

Location of piece: Porto Turistico di Roma – Colonnade – Lungomare Duca degli Abruzzi 84 / Ostia Lido – Rome

Description: 
For the colonnade of the marina, the artist duo Sten Lex create a series of frescoes using the ancient buon fresco technique. Working with light and shadow, they reinterpret nighttime nautical signals, transforming them from simple markers into artistic visions.
Through their distinctive method they evoke beams of light breaking through the dark, signals emerging from the night. The frescoes will play with overlapping forms, transparencies, and varying intensities of brightness, capturing the poetry and complexity of maritime language.
The compositions are also inspired by the mapping of stars as ancient navigational tools. Light signals and planets become the very soul of the artwork.
This cycle of frescoes is conceived as a dialogue between modern technology and ancient seafaring practices — an homage to the sea, its mysteries, and its enduring power to inspire.

Techniques:
The ancient buon fresco technique, also known as “true fresco”, involves painting with pigments mixed with water onto a fresh, wet layer of lime plaster called intonaco. As the plaster dries, a chemical reaction occurs, causing the plaster to harden and absorb the pigment, making the painting a permanent part of the wall itself.

Materials: Intonaco, Painting with Pigments, Brushes

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

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