Sten (Rome, 1982) and Lex (Taranto, 1982) are among the most internationally renowned street artists in the world. The Italian duo has developed a unique technique, the halftone stencil, which allows them to create poetic and powerful pieces influenced by op-art. Sten and Lex first met at the end of medical studies in Rome, while taking a radiology course together. They were profoundly inspired by the material potential of x-ray film, and it was during class that they first began to cut out the skeletal forms, a process which foreshadowed their current practice.
Sten Lex
Italy
Italy
Experimenting with the style and technique, Sten Lex developed a collection of silhouettes created from freehand cutouts drawn on paper and contained in glass, working with the idea of a “shadow-stencil”, the projection of an organic image, altered by the changing light. Their works on wood incorporate the evidence of the technique, the strips of paper that were previously discarded, now hang as part of the final work giving it an indisputable aesthetic element. The duo has revolutionized the technique by changing the status of the stencil from static to dynamic.
Sten Lex has exhibited in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Oaxaca (MX), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome (IT), the Caradente Museum in Spoleto (IT), the Centre de la Gravure et de l’Impage imprimée (BE), the Street Art Museum in Saint Petersburg (RU) and La Condition Publique in Roubaix (FR).
Solo exhibitions
Group exhibitions
Festivals (selection)
Other projects
2016 | Sten Lex | Leona Gallery, Austin, Texas, USA
2015 | Paesaggi Industriali | Celaya Brothers Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
2015 | Matrici Distrutte | Wunderkammern Gallery, Rome, Italy
2013 | Sten Lex solo show | Magda Danysz Gallery, Shanghai, China
2012 | Sten Lex Solo Show | Magda Danysz Gallery, Paris, France
2012 | Street art par Sten Lex | Centre de la Gravure et de l’Impage imprimée, La Louvière, Belgium
2010 | Sten Lex | Co2 Gallery, Rome, Italy
2010 | Danah | Carandente Museum, Spoleto, Italy
2010 | Sten Lex | Galerie Itinerrance, Paris, France
