The Stencil Art Prize is a touring exhibition of the world’s biggest, best and most daring artists who use the technique of cutting stencil layers, and painting a design. The Prize ran from 2009 to September 2021, exhibiting hundreds of artworks at galleries right around Australia. The Prize has now concluded however our recently released book “CUT: 10 years of the Stencil Art Prize” explores the histroy of the Stencil Art Prize and the artists that made up its unique stencil community.

This grassroots art form has undergone a resurgence in recent decades and is now thriving on the streets in every country around the globe. Edgy, political, cheeky and pop-culture inspired – the technique lends itself to a sense of wonder and intrigue. How was the stencil made and what does it mean? 

The Stencil Art Prize began in 2009 with a start up grant from Marrickville Council and has continued to grow with support from the global stencil community, participating galleries and sponsors. Beginning as an Australian-only exhibition, the Prize moved to accept international artists in response to a strong demand in 2013.

This stencil event is the largest and longest running stencil program on the planet.

Each year, we exhibit the most innovative, inspiring, challenging and captivating stencil artworks.

Collectively our finalists push the boundaries of the “stencil definition” each year as they develop new stencil techniques, messages, materials and technology. From photo realist stencils involving dozens of layers- to intricate hand cut stencils on delicate paper – the Stencil Art Prize is the authority on all things ‘stencil art’.