Biography
Marco Barberio is a stencil artist, born in 1971 in Lamezia Terme, South of Italy. He is also known under the pseudonym Moz. From an early age he was drawn to art, particularly influenced by the bold colors of Pop Art and the energy of American graffiti in the 1980s.
Barberio did not attend a formal art school, he cultivated his craft in a largely self-taught manner.
His travels to the United States had a strong influence on his choice of subject matter: urban landscapes, street life, brand imagery, American cultural icons. These journeys solidified his focus on metropolitan scenes and gave depth to his “pop” references.
Barberio refers to his style with “Sampled Realism”. Using stencils, his process is the idea of visual sampling: he takes photographic, isolates subjects, plays with composition, then segments the image into portions (samples) which are rendered with varying levels of detail. Some portions are highly detailed; others are minimal or omitted.
The goal is to combine a realistic aesthetic with conceptual simplification — to balance detailed depiction with abstraction, to allow both representation and interpretative space.
His color usage tends toward strong contrasts, with areas of flat color, sometimes super-opaque combined with bright, lively colors.
Over time, Barberio has exhibited his works both in Italy and internationally. He has been a finalist or winner in a number of art prizes, including Art Olympia 2017 in Tokyo. He has held individual shows and participated in group exhibitions.
