Sten Lex (Roma 1982, Taranto 1982) are among the most internationally renowned Italian street artists to date. They got their start in 2001 on the streets of Rome, and since then, their work has been in constant evolution. The duo is best know in the stencil making community for developing the halftone stencil technique, where the main parts of their portraits are composed by thousands of lines and strips of paper. This images appear abstract from up close and only reveal their representational nature when seen from far away
In 2008, Sten Lex exhibited at the Banksy Cans Festival along with 39 international artists including Prism, Blek Le Rat, Faile, Vhils and Vexta. It was in 2010, for their solo show in Co2 Gallery, that Sten Lex developed their technique combining collage, stencil and op art, creating unique works, both poetic and powerful.
Their 2013 solo show in Shanghai, China at Magda Danysz Gallery marked a turning point for them, since this was the first time they exhibited abstract pieces. In this work, made with the same technique but inspired by pencil sketches, Sten Lex decided to use the lines in a chaotic manner. In doing so, they pushed the medium to convey a different meaning than that of the common stencil in street art.