Sten Lex
Encyclopedia
Sten and Lex (Taranto
Taranto
Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....

, 1982), known as Sten and Lex, are two italian
Italian
Italian may refer to:* anything of, from, or related to the country of Italy* Italian people, an ethnic group* Italian language, a Romance language* Italian or Italian-A, alternative names for the Ping-Pong virus, an extinct computer virus*Italian cuisine...

 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 their home town of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. During that early period in Rome, and Italy in general, there didn’t exist a strong stencil culture such as there was in France and Sten & Lex may be considered as the pioneers of "Stencil
Stencil
A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...

 Graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....

" in Italy and were the first to be considered "stencil
Stencil
A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...

 artists". All the work of Sten & Lex results from an individual path that developed far from art academies and design institutes and far from classic writing
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...

 and graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....

 background. The duo are best known in the history of stencil
Stencil
A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...

 making for introducing the halftone stencil technique where the main part of their stencil portraits are composed by thousands of lines. They usually produce portraits from people they have photographed themselves or found in family photos album, anonymous people.
In 2008 they took part at the Cans Festival : Banksy called thirty-nine artists from around the world, including,, Prism
Prism (street artist)
Prism is a notable street artist operating out of Melbourne Australia.Prism cut his first stencil in 2000 of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, with devil horns. Prism moved to Melbourne in 2001....

, Blek
Blek le Rat
Blek le Rat, born Xavier Prou in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris in 1952, was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, and has been described as the “Father of Stencil Graffiti” .-Early career and Influence:...

,, Faile
Faile (artist)
FAILE is a Brooklyn-based artistic collaboration between Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller...

, Vhils, Vexta
Vexta
Vexta is a prominent Melbourne street artist. She is especially notable because she is a female operating in a male-dominated arena. Her work is mostly human portraiture. Vexta requests that her name not be published....

, they exhibited their works in an abandoned tunnel near Leake Street
Leake Street
Leake Street, also known as the "Banksy tunnel", is a road in Lambeth, London. It is about 300 metres long, runs off York Road and under the platforms and tracks of Waterloo station. The walls are decorated with graffiti - initially created during the "Cans Festival" organised by Banksy in 2008 May...

 in South East London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.
In 2009 the started producing what they call "Stencil
Stencil
A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...

 Poster
Poster
A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be...

".The technique derives from the union of two of the main techniques of street art
Street art
Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives...

: Stencil
Stencil
A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...

 and Poster
Poster
A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be...

. They glue a stencil
Stencil
A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...

 cut on paper on the wall and then they paint on it and destroy the matrix. The matrix is destroyed and its scraps become part of the work itself. With this technique, the work becomes unique because the matrix remains on the wall, and is worn out in time. The shape can no longer be reproduced, which is, on the contrary, one of the characteristics of the stencil
Stencil
A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...

.

Videography

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