Sydney-based stencil artist Luke Cornish, also known as E.L.K., is rapidly gaining national and international recognition for his highly detailed photorealist street art. He is the highest selling street artist in Australia. Selected as one of 41 finalists in the prestigious 2012 Archibald Prize for his portrait of Father Bob Maguire, Cornish is the first stencil art finalist in the history of the Prize.

E.L.K has been exhibited alongside the ‘Godfather’ of street art, France’s Blek le Rat and Britain’s Banksy. His work has been exhibited in the USA, Iran, Germany, Britain and Australia and was selected as finalist 2013 Sulman prize, semi-finalist 2012 Moran prize, finalist 2011 Metro Art Prize, winner of the Australian Stencil Art Prize in 2010 and was awarded ‘Most Popular Stencil’ at the Melbourne Stencil Festival in 2008.

E.L.K’s Top 10 Stencil Artists

It’s really hard to pick a top ten out of so many hundreds of amazing artists in the stencil community, but these are a few friends and people who I’ve admired and been inspired by for a long time.

10. Klingatron

Glasgow based artist Klingatron (aka The Stencil Ninja) has dedicated himself to creating artwork from intricate and highly detailed handcut stencils. His paintings have been displayed across the globe, from Glasgow to London to as far as Australia. In 2011, Klingatron was was nominated for Best Scottish Artist at the Scottish Variety Awards.

9. Tim Young

Born 1972 in bad eynhausen, Germany, grew up in Minden, Germany, currently lives in Bielefeld, Germany. Cut his first stencil sometime around 1a988, became theYOUNG in 2002, turned grey in 2007.

8. Leckomio

Stefan Winterle (Leckomio) is now known as the well respected director of Colab gallery in Weil am Rhein, Germany. But to me he’ll always be Lecko the stencil artist. Someone that has been pushing the boundaries of photorealism for a long time. Pretty busy with other stuff these days, but still one of my favourites.

7. John Koleszar

Another artist that has been a good friend since the early stencil rev days, John is an Arizona based stencil artist. John was one of the first people that I remember doing large multi layered photorealistic works.

6. M-City

Mariusz Waras (M-City) is known for is single coloured geometrical stencils of city and industrial themed landscapes. His work focuses on urban space. Hundreds of his murals can be seen in the streets of Warsaw, Gdańsk, Berlin, Paris, Budapest, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bolzano, London and Prague, as well as in art galleries. Possibly the hardest work stencil artist there is.

5. Snik

I’ve known this guy since before there were two of him. Snik is a Stencil duo working out of somewhere in England. Initially inspired by the Graffiti scene, Snik has been working with stencil and spray can for 10 years now. Constantly pushing the boundaries, this artist duo has developed a unique style which is equally captivating on walls as it in on canvas. Staying true to their form, Snik hand cuts up to nine layers at a time, working with different mediums, techniques, paints and varnishes. Regardless of size, the level of detail is insane, and use of colours and forms, inspirational. Snik is killing it.







4. Pisa 73

Berlin based stencil artist, Pisa 73 is one of the big gun European stencil junkies. I love his soft splattered style of painting and his powerful subject matter.

3. Czarnobyl

Another Berlin based big gun European stencil Junkie. “Born 1974 in Poland, he lives and works in Berlin since 1993. Already in 1990 he began to take an interest in to cutting stencils to express his feelings and ideas. It seems like Czarnobyl’s works want to remind us of the technological progress and its’ unfulfilled promise of a better future. His creatures are completely torn, lonesome but oppressive as well as nostalgic and not yet in a common sense beautiful. Czarnobyl’s protagonists appear much more as mutated outsiders of an evil and unequal game like the mutants of the Megapolis”

2. Adam 5100

I first came across Adam’s work on Stencil Revolution about ten years ago, I think he was the first stencil artist that made me utter the words “wow. I thought that was a photo” Someone that was way ahead of his time in terms of technical progression, his multi layered stencils have always been a source of inspiration. Through an intricate process of hand-cut stencils and enamel painting, he explores the relationship between our perceptions of the temporary and the eternal, uncovering the stories we have transcribed on an urban landscape filled with utilitarian objects. The use of light in his work creates an atmosphere that really is original and very hard to do as well as he does.