Interview with street artists Sten&Lex
Pioneers of "stencil graffiti" in Italy and self-taught street artists. All the work of Sten & Lex results from an individual path that developed far from art academies and design institutes. Their activity starts in Rome in 2001. They were the first artists in the world to introduce the half shade technique that they have nicknamed "Hole School" in stencil. In their last book, Sten & Lex: Stencil Poster (Drago, 2010) they describe the evolution of their style and their new technique, the "Stencil poster," that they illustrate in detail in this interview.
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Stencil poster Nuart Festival (Stavanger, Norway, 2010)
How did you meet?
We met through some mutual friends and, in particular, thanks to a girl who created stencils. From that moment, we started to reproduce portraits of US B movie and thriller characters using the stencil technique, that we strived to increasingly study and improve. Then, for a while, we gave up the stencil technique and devoted our attention to posters and paintings. It is only fairly recently that we began using it again in new experimental ways.
When you started, did Italy already have a 'stencil graffiti' culture?
No, it did not. But, above all, when we started we did not know exactly what we were up to. It was only later on that we discovered we were among the first people who brought the stencil graffiti in Italy.
Stencil poster, via Reggio Emilia (Rome, Italy, 2010)
Your most characteristic technique is called “the hole school”. Could you describe it to us?
We named it "the hole school" because of the funny assonance with "the old school." In 2003, we created a new way to cut the stencils, borrowing the half shades from the world of graphic design. At present, many stencil artists use lines and dots in their work. We can say we were the first ones to match this new type of graphic art to the stencil.
To obtain the black and white without gray scale that distinguishes our works, we draw our inspiration from engraving techniques, silk-screen printing and other printing techniques (like the techniques used for printing newspapers in the sixties) that process the images using black and white shades and the gradients created by the filling. In short, all the dots are lines of different sizes which create the shade effects which, actually, do not exist. It is an effect that can be understood only from a distance. If you look at it from a close distance, you will only see lines and dots, but as you back up the eye creates the in-between shades.
Stencil poster strike, via Partini (Rome, Italy, 2010)
What effect do you intend to achieve?
The underlying idea is to catch the observer off guard, but only at a first glance. At the Garbatella (Rome), we created a 26x12 m poster on the entire front of a building. The people who looked at it from a close distance could not see the image, but the people who were approaching from a distance, could recognize it.
Could your work be linked up to the late 19th-century Impressionist movement?
Impressionism was mainly characterised by the contrasts between the lights and shades that would fix the painter's feelings on the canvas. And, painting en plein air was particularly important to the impressionists. We were certainly influenced by the impressionist movement, but our main influences from a stylistic standpoint are the silk-screen printing and the pixel-based printing. Thanks to the software, we have been able to create some works we could not have done in any other way. In the past, we used to transform digital graphics in paintings by means of the stencils, but now we start from drawings and sketches and we try to make them similar to their original technique, only with more impulsiveness and by trying to erase any digital remainder.
Stencil poster on wood, Co2 Gallery (Rome, Italy, 2010)
From B movie characters to faces typical of the 60s and the 70s, from a known to a forgotten pop imaginary. Why?
In our book the images start in the 60s and stop in the year 2000 in a search for the most contemporary faces. In the future, we would like to personally take the pictures of the faces we will use as the basis for our portraits. At the beginning, our approach was different, more experimental and less conscious. We tried to reproduce what was easier to cut. After 10 years though, our approach has changed: we have deviated from the popular images typically used by stencil artists in Europe as well as in the States. We try to leave our own mark, a signature. We keep all our stencil production in an archive that belongs to the past and that we will never reproduce again, not even if someone is willing to pay for it. We do not want to go back, but forward and in doing so we look for new sources of inspiration.
Poster, hand painted, via Caffaro (Rome, Italy, 2010)
Where do you find your images?
Often in Internet or in the street markets. Our images are taken from the newspapers following a purely aesthetic criterion: usually we choose portraits of people who caught our attention, where the subject does not look in the camera, as it would typically happen in the 60s and the 70s. Our last book points out how, from the 60s people have been looking more and more in the camera and smile.
Do you also draw your inspiration from the medieval art?
For a certain time we were interested in the Christian and ecclesiastic imagery. We created a pope in Palermo, holy pictures, Russian icons and other sacred art images. At the Can's Festival, to some extent, we continued in this line with the "Saint". But, then we moved on in a quest for forgotten representations, such as old postage stamps and banknotes. We wanted to produce very detailed, tiny drawings on a large scale because we were interested in the engraving technique. We became interested in Gustave Doré's illustrations and created a series of posters and works on wood devoted to the Divine Comedy. At present, we are trying to recreate the engraving traits so that we can draw the shadows by hand, as the engravers used to do.
Poster, hand painted, via delle Conce (Rome, Italy, 2009)
How would you describe your way of doing street art?
It is a form of subjective expression that consciously keeps at a due distance from the usual social messages. With respect to other street artists such as Banksy, Shepard Farrey and other successful artists from a commercial standpoint, we stay away from social and political issues. At the beginning it was hard, but we are now succeeding in having our work noticed for what it is, without touching on topics that could easily capture the media attention – as we could do, for instance, with the many cues offered by Mr Berlusconi – at the risk of undermining our artistic path.
Stencil, hand cutted, via Partini (Rome, Italy, 2010)
In your opinion, is conveying social messages through art only a fashionable trend?
Almost all the street artists send a social message; therefore, it is normal to ask oneself if they do it because it is fashionable or out of a real necessity. It depends, some people create graphics and not street art; in other words, there are people who, taking advantage of the trends, put a Superman outfit to Obama in a mediatic operation that is far from art, even though it is a remarkable work. There are also other artists, like Blu, who really feel these topics and reflect them in their artistic production. We certainly feel the crisis and the related problems, but we do not think our art will be able to solve or deal with such subjects.
Painted wall, Pop Up Festival (Ancona, Italy, 2008)
It would seem that in Italy we noticed street art very recently, with exhibitions in museums and art galleries. In the USA, these events already happened in the 80s. Does street art lose its nature in an art gallery?
Yes, it is distorted. This is why we try to work as much as possible in the streets. What you say is true: over the last few years, Italy has seen the rise of the street art phenomenon, which started in particular thanks to Vittorio Sgarbi and a group composed of administrators, gallery directors and critics who, however, used it in their favour to appear in the newspapers, leaving the artists in the background as in the case of the Auditorium of Rome or of the Pac of Milan. If we look at Rome, the city where we live, none of the art galleries focuses on street art on an international level. It is a little difficult for the artists, such as ourselves, who live in Rome. Milan, has more art galleries and the media can give more visibility to the artists. Thanks to internet we are in touch with various art galleries around the world, including in Milan.
In any case, the fact that there are no important international street art exhibitions in Rome is odd. We go to London, Paris and New York, but nobody comes to Rome. Recently, French street artist Space Invader, invaded Rome with his mosaics, but this has been the only visit of a world-wide known (with the exception of Italy) artist.
For the works we expose in the art galleries we work with materials and sizes that we normally do not use in the streets. The gallery directors often require certain formats both for practical and commercial reasons. Recently, we have created some works with a new technique, the stencil-poster. Unlike the works that we create in the streets, these are the product of studio tests on wooden panels. These prototypes have been included in our book.
Painted wall in Barile (Basilicata, Italy, 2008)
Could you explain the stencil-poster technique to us?
In a stencil, you print the image on a sheet of paper and then cut the shape. In the stencil-poster technique, on the contrary, we glue the printed image on the panel or on the wall, and then we cut the black parts directly on the surface. After this phase, we paint and destroy the matrix. Each stencil-poster is a unique model because the matrix is destroyed and its scraps become part of the work itself. This technique is also used to write on the glass. The technique derives from the union of two of the main techniques of street art. When we sell these works in an art gallery, we always point out that it is 'art in progress' and that the matrix could fall completely in the future. 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.
Painted wall, Infart Festival (Bassano del Grappa, Italy, 2008)
Rew (a writer from Berlin) tells us how writers in Rome are spontaneous and immediate in their paintings, unlike the Germans, who plan every single detail before they start working. What about you?
Our job is done in the lab, it is programmed. Very often, we measure the wall before we start working.
How does the public respond to your street works?
Better than one would imagine. In such neighbourhoods as S. Lorenzo, people have a hard time with the writers, whereas the posters, which are removable, do not bother them. In Pigneto, we painted two young men hugging each other. It lasted for two years and people really appreciated it.
What is the work that launched you on the international scene?
The “Saint” we exhibited at the London Can’s Festival next to the “Buddha” by Bansky. When Bansky invited us, we did not know he was going to present his "Buddha." On that occasion, our stencil did not reach the top of the wall, so we decided to add a halo to it. Stencil artists from all over the world were invited to the event; the only Italians beside us were, Lucamaleonte from Rome and Ortica Noodles from Milan. Another (constant) encouragement comes from the website woostercollective.com, a reference point for street art that, since 2003, has always published our works.
Stencil, hand cutted, piazza Magione (Palermo, Italy, 2009)
What are your projects for the future?
We are going to work on a new series of stencils that we will paint on paper. Then, we will wait for time to destroy the matrix and unveil the drawings without our intervention. We would like to leave the drawings in the streets and document their evolution. Technique is very important to us. In time, we would like to start developing an expressive reasoning that goes beyond pure aesthetics. Portraying may be interesting, but we do not believe that it will go on forever… In contemporary art, some artists only work on the message and other artists only work on the technique. We are aware that the message is important and we are working on that, but for now, the way we express ourselves manifests itself in portraits and their aesthetics. Shortly, we will participate in the Young Artists' Biennial Exhibition in Monza (Milan). There we will show a video that documents our action in the street. Instead of preparing a project for the museum, we asked for a budget for a permanent wall installation in Monza.
Stencil, hand cutted, Cans Festival, (London, England, 2008)
In the future are you planning on using pictures that you personally took?
We would like to free our thoughts a little, to go beyond the social topics and to create our own world, where we could stop working on preexisting images and start working on portraits and scenarios that we drew ourselves in a more narrative approach.
Poster, hand painted, via del Pigneto (Rome, Italy, 2006)
If you could choose a wall for a painting, which one would you choose?
In the last period of time, we have been choosing vertical walls. Keep in mind that our work is based on decadence and we like the idea that, with time, inside the walls there will be cracks. Here in San Lorenzo, there are several walls, the remains of buildings that were destroyed during the bombings in WW2, where we would like to work. But, we would also like to work in the abandoned houses of the little Italian villages and, more in general, in the places that were destroyed during the war.
Video gallery
Pictures © Sten&Lex
Interview by Fabio Falzone
Stencil poster Nuart Festival (Stavanger, Norway, 2010)
How did you meet?
We met through some mutual friends and, in particular, thanks to a girl who created stencils. From that moment, we started to reproduce portraits of US B movie and thriller characters using the stencil technique, that we strived to increasingly study and improve. Then, for a while, we gave up the stencil technique and devoted our attention to posters and paintings. It is only fairly recently that we began using it again in new experimental ways.
When you started, did Italy already have a 'stencil graffiti' culture?
No, it did not. But, above all, when we started we did not know exactly what we were up to. It was only later on that we discovered we were among the first people who brought the stencil graffiti in Italy.
Stencil poster, via Reggio Emilia (Rome, Italy, 2010)
Your most characteristic technique is called “the hole school”. Could you describe it to us?
We named it "the hole school" because of the funny assonance with "the old school." In 2003, we created a new way to cut the stencils, borrowing the half shades from the world of graphic design. At present, many stencil artists use lines and dots in their work. We can say we were the first ones to match this new type of graphic art to the stencil.
To obtain the black and white without gray scale that distinguishes our works, we draw our inspiration from engraving techniques, silk-screen printing and other printing techniques (like the techniques used for printing newspapers in the sixties) that process the images using black and white shades and the gradients created by the filling. In short, all the dots are lines of different sizes which create the shade effects which, actually, do not exist. It is an effect that can be understood only from a distance. If you look at it from a close distance, you will only see lines and dots, but as you back up the eye creates the in-between shades.
Stencil poster strike, via Partini (Rome, Italy, 2010)
What effect do you intend to achieve?
The underlying idea is to catch the observer off guard, but only at a first glance. At the Garbatella (Rome), we created a 26x12 m poster on the entire front of a building. The people who looked at it from a close distance could not see the image, but the people who were approaching from a distance, could recognize it.
Could your work be linked up to the late 19th-century Impressionist movement?
Impressionism was mainly characterised by the contrasts between the lights and shades that would fix the painter's feelings on the canvas. And, painting en plein air was particularly important to the impressionists. We were certainly influenced by the impressionist movement, but our main influences from a stylistic standpoint are the silk-screen printing and the pixel-based printing. Thanks to the software, we have been able to create some works we could not have done in any other way. In the past, we used to transform digital graphics in paintings by means of the stencils, but now we start from drawings and sketches and we try to make them similar to their original technique, only with more impulsiveness and by trying to erase any digital remainder.
Stencil poster on wood, Co2 Gallery (Rome, Italy, 2010)
From B movie characters to faces typical of the 60s and the 70s, from a known to a forgotten pop imaginary. Why?
In our book the images start in the 60s and stop in the year 2000 in a search for the most contemporary faces. In the future, we would like to personally take the pictures of the faces we will use as the basis for our portraits. At the beginning, our approach was different, more experimental and less conscious. We tried to reproduce what was easier to cut. After 10 years though, our approach has changed: we have deviated from the popular images typically used by stencil artists in Europe as well as in the States. We try to leave our own mark, a signature. We keep all our stencil production in an archive that belongs to the past and that we will never reproduce again, not even if someone is willing to pay for it. We do not want to go back, but forward and in doing so we look for new sources of inspiration.
Poster, hand painted, via Caffaro (Rome, Italy, 2010)
Where do you find your images?
Often in Internet or in the street markets. Our images are taken from the newspapers following a purely aesthetic criterion: usually we choose portraits of people who caught our attention, where the subject does not look in the camera, as it would typically happen in the 60s and the 70s. Our last book points out how, from the 60s people have been looking more and more in the camera and smile.
Do you also draw your inspiration from the medieval art?
For a certain time we were interested in the Christian and ecclesiastic imagery. We created a pope in Palermo, holy pictures, Russian icons and other sacred art images. At the Can's Festival, to some extent, we continued in this line with the "Saint". But, then we moved on in a quest for forgotten representations, such as old postage stamps and banknotes. We wanted to produce very detailed, tiny drawings on a large scale because we were interested in the engraving technique. We became interested in Gustave Doré's illustrations and created a series of posters and works on wood devoted to the Divine Comedy. At present, we are trying to recreate the engraving traits so that we can draw the shadows by hand, as the engravers used to do.
Poster, hand painted, via delle Conce (Rome, Italy, 2009)
How would you describe your way of doing street art?
It is a form of subjective expression that consciously keeps at a due distance from the usual social messages. With respect to other street artists such as Banksy, Shepard Farrey and other successful artists from a commercial standpoint, we stay away from social and political issues. At the beginning it was hard, but we are now succeeding in having our work noticed for what it is, without touching on topics that could easily capture the media attention – as we could do, for instance, with the many cues offered by Mr Berlusconi – at the risk of undermining our artistic path.
Stencil, hand cutted, via Partini (Rome, Italy, 2010)
In your opinion, is conveying social messages through art only a fashionable trend?
Almost all the street artists send a social message; therefore, it is normal to ask oneself if they do it because it is fashionable or out of a real necessity. It depends, some people create graphics and not street art; in other words, there are people who, taking advantage of the trends, put a Superman outfit to Obama in a mediatic operation that is far from art, even though it is a remarkable work. There are also other artists, like Blu, who really feel these topics and reflect them in their artistic production. We certainly feel the crisis and the related problems, but we do not think our art will be able to solve or deal with such subjects.
Painted wall, Pop Up Festival (Ancona, Italy, 2008)
It would seem that in Italy we noticed street art very recently, with exhibitions in museums and art galleries. In the USA, these events already happened in the 80s. Does street art lose its nature in an art gallery?
Yes, it is distorted. This is why we try to work as much as possible in the streets. What you say is true: over the last few years, Italy has seen the rise of the street art phenomenon, which started in particular thanks to Vittorio Sgarbi and a group composed of administrators, gallery directors and critics who, however, used it in their favour to appear in the newspapers, leaving the artists in the background as in the case of the Auditorium of Rome or of the Pac of Milan. If we look at Rome, the city where we live, none of the art galleries focuses on street art on an international level. It is a little difficult for the artists, such as ourselves, who live in Rome. Milan, has more art galleries and the media can give more visibility to the artists. Thanks to internet we are in touch with various art galleries around the world, including in Milan.
In any case, the fact that there are no important international street art exhibitions in Rome is odd. We go to London, Paris and New York, but nobody comes to Rome. Recently, French street artist Space Invader, invaded Rome with his mosaics, but this has been the only visit of a world-wide known (with the exception of Italy) artist.
For the works we expose in the art galleries we work with materials and sizes that we normally do not use in the streets. The gallery directors often require certain formats both for practical and commercial reasons. Recently, we have created some works with a new technique, the stencil-poster. Unlike the works that we create in the streets, these are the product of studio tests on wooden panels. These prototypes have been included in our book.
Painted wall in Barile (Basilicata, Italy, 2008)
Could you explain the stencil-poster technique to us?
In a stencil, you print the image on a sheet of paper and then cut the shape. In the stencil-poster technique, on the contrary, we glue the printed image on the panel or on the wall, and then we cut the black parts directly on the surface. After this phase, we paint and destroy the matrix. Each stencil-poster is a unique model because the matrix is destroyed and its scraps become part of the work itself. This technique is also used to write on the glass. The technique derives from the union of two of the main techniques of street art. When we sell these works in an art gallery, we always point out that it is 'art in progress' and that the matrix could fall completely in the future. 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.
Painted wall, Infart Festival (Bassano del Grappa, Italy, 2008)
Rew (a writer from Berlin) tells us how writers in Rome are spontaneous and immediate in their paintings, unlike the Germans, who plan every single detail before they start working. What about you?
Our job is done in the lab, it is programmed. Very often, we measure the wall before we start working.
How does the public respond to your street works?
Better than one would imagine. In such neighbourhoods as S. Lorenzo, people have a hard time with the writers, whereas the posters, which are removable, do not bother them. In Pigneto, we painted two young men hugging each other. It lasted for two years and people really appreciated it.
What is the work that launched you on the international scene?
The “Saint” we exhibited at the London Can’s Festival next to the “Buddha” by Bansky. When Bansky invited us, we did not know he was going to present his "Buddha." On that occasion, our stencil did not reach the top of the wall, so we decided to add a halo to it. Stencil artists from all over the world were invited to the event; the only Italians beside us were, Lucamaleonte from Rome and Ortica Noodles from Milan. Another (constant) encouragement comes from the website woostercollective.com, a reference point for street art that, since 2003, has always published our works.
Stencil, hand cutted, piazza Magione (Palermo, Italy, 2009)
What are your projects for the future?
We are going to work on a new series of stencils that we will paint on paper. Then, we will wait for time to destroy the matrix and unveil the drawings without our intervention. We would like to leave the drawings in the streets and document their evolution. Technique is very important to us. In time, we would like to start developing an expressive reasoning that goes beyond pure aesthetics. Portraying may be interesting, but we do not believe that it will go on forever… In contemporary art, some artists only work on the message and other artists only work on the technique. We are aware that the message is important and we are working on that, but for now, the way we express ourselves manifests itself in portraits and their aesthetics. Shortly, we will participate in the Young Artists' Biennial Exhibition in Monza (Milan). There we will show a video that documents our action in the street. Instead of preparing a project for the museum, we asked for a budget for a permanent wall installation in Monza.
Stencil, hand cutted, Cans Festival, (London, England, 2008)
In the future are you planning on using pictures that you personally took?
We would like to free our thoughts a little, to go beyond the social topics and to create our own world, where we could stop working on preexisting images and start working on portraits and scenarios that we drew ourselves in a more narrative approach.
Poster, hand painted, via del Pigneto (Rome, Italy, 2006)
If you could choose a wall for a painting, which one would you choose?
In the last period of time, we have been choosing vertical walls. Keep in mind that our work is based on decadence and we like the idea that, with time, inside the walls there will be cracks. Here in San Lorenzo, there are several walls, the remains of buildings that were destroyed during the bombings in WW2, where we would like to work. But, we would also like to work in the abandoned houses of the little Italian villages and, more in general, in the places that were destroyed during the war.
Video gallery
Pictures © Sten&Lex
Interview by Fabio Falzone
18 Febraury 2011
4.8/5
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License