The Studio
About
Pioneering visual arts, rooted in tradition, driven by innovation, featuring revered global talents.
Led by Arsalan Sattari-Hicks and Francesco Pierangeli, StageBlock studio fuses traditional mediums with cutting edge technologies to create intimate encounters that interrogate the nature of memory, motivation, and presence; establishing performance and digital portraiture as a unique, physical and collectable form of art. Bringing the performing arts into the wider art market.
Commissions
We accept a limited number of private commissions each year, creating work that embodies the individuality of both the sitter and the commissioner. Every artwork is brought to life through a detailed, collaborative process - from concept to final installation - producing a piece that endures.
Arsalan
Sattari-Hicks
Creative Director
Arsalan is the artist and producer behind StageBlock, situated at the intersection of theatre, visual art, and creative technology. His practice re-engineers the relationship between the viewer and the subject, transforming the passive gaze of traditional portraiture into an active, cinematic exchange.
Drawing on over a decade of theatre and performance production and design across the UK and US, his work through StageBlock has been exhibited alongside contemporary masters such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Damien Hirst, and displayed amongst traditional collections.
He is an alum of the Sundance Institute’s Producers Program, and an Associate Producer for the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre in London and Playhouse Creatures in New York. His academic background (spanning an Economics BA and Creative and Cultural Industry Management MSc at the University of Sheffield, to Audience Development research at Goldsmiths, University of London) always aimed to interrogate the relationship between the arts and the audience, grounding the studio’s creative output in a deep understanding of traditional mediums and contemporary cultural engagement.
Francesco
Pierangeli
Co-Founder
Dr. Francesco Pierangeli leads the studio's exploration beyond the creative, focusing on advancing the technological landscape and forging broader partnerships, to expand the studio's reach and impact globally.
An academic at the University of Birmingham, where he is the Director of MSc FinTech; his research focuses on the integration of emerging technologies into socio-economic systems. He is Deputy Director of the UK Centre for Blockchain Technologies, leading the development of a global network dedicated to building more transparent, efficient, and equitable models of value exchange. Francesco is also a patron of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts and has co-founded several initiatives within the creative industries. He holds a PhD jointly awarded by King’s College London and the National University of Singapore. Prior to his academic career, he worked in finance at J.P. Morgan and UBS.
Associated Artists
Ron Daniels
Ron was the Artistic Director of The Other Place Theatre. He is a guest lecturer at Yale University, and a former Associate Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theatre, and head of the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.
Roberto Vivancus
renowned for his highly cinematic visual story-telling. With a passion for narratively intriguing concepts, his bold cinematic style and his intensive career focusing on dramatic lighting techniques are defining features of his work.
Creative Facilitators
Rachel Lynn Jackson
Working at the intersection of creativity, community, and activism, she's worked with Peter, Paul & Mary, Jacob’s Pillow, ISPA, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Bridewell Theatre, and Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company. She is a longtime member of New York Celebrity Assistants.
Eleanor Sattari-Hicks
ensuring each session proceeds seamlessly and with discretion. She has extensive experience supporting high-profile talent and coordinating complex production and casting arrangements, having worked with Charlotte Sutton CDG and Jamie Wilson Productions. A voiceover artist, trained actor, and accomplished director.
Studio Ambassadors
Daniele Francilia
With over 15 years of experience in big tech, including a decade in leadership at Google, he specialises in scaling complex ventures in new markets. Based in Dubai, and founder of DF Management Services he brings an investor’s perspective and a strong passion for the arts, helping shape the studio's intersection of creative technology and the global art market.
Richard Brierley
in the Americas, Asia and Europe. Richard was instrumental in the staging of StageBlock’s first commercial gallery show to global critical acclaim and a steady flow of visitors in the Autumn of 2024. Richard continues to support StageBlock’s commercial growth and their relationship with the art market more broadly.
Advisory Board
We are proud to have been selected and supported by the Google for Startups Cloud Program.
We strive to grow and deliver world-class projects and artworks, through a robust infrastructure and secure authentication ledger, bringing the performing arts into the wider art world.
Honorary Patrons
Our Process
Experimentation is both instinct and method. From sketchbooks to storyboards to speculative renderings, we explore a range of mediums - photographic, generative, and tactile - in search of a visual language that resonates with the subject.
We embrace missteps, welcome detours, and follow creative intuition wherever it leads, until something wholly unexpected takes shape.
Once the conceptual direction is set, we enter a focused stage of development, shaping how each portrait will live, move, and resonate. This is where intuition meets structure. We translate artistic ideas into digital form, refining tone, gesture, and presence through a collaborative process across disciplines.
Rather than chasing spectacle, we work toward clarity and coherence — crafting each portrait’s internal rhythm, atmosphere, and emotional weight. The goal is not to foreground technique, but to make space for stillness and authenticity, so that the subject need not perform, but can simply exist, breathe, and be.
In production, we shift from exploration to execution. This is where the work is calibrated for light, space, and longevity. Each portrait is produced using a blend of in-house systems and bespoke fabrication, developed in close collaboration with our subjects.
No two works follow the same route, but each is held to the same standard: clarity of image, integrity of form, and respect for the subject’s presence.
Refinement is where the portrait settles into its final voice. Here, we tune the emotional register, colour, movement, texture, and ensure every detail resonates with the subject.
It’s a long, solitary and quiet process but an essential stage. We revisit each frame with fresh perspective, refining tone and clarity without disturbing what’s already working. Nothing is added without purpose; nothing remains without reason.
The frame is more than a container, it’s part of the portrait’s presence. Each StageBlock piece is encased in a custom-built structure that balances protection, performance, and design.
Housing internal systems and ensuring stability over time, our frames are fabricated with care and finish in mind, from hand-treated woods to bespoke metalwork. Each decision is led by the artwork and the collectors.
Our portraits carry not only image and story but a digital fingerprint. Through blockchain digital tokens, each work holds a permanent, verifiable record. This pioneering approach is part of StageBlock’s ongoing exploration of how technology can deepen trust, transparency, and connection in the way art’s legacy is shared and safeguarded.
We collaborate closely with collectors and venues to ensure every StageBlock portrait is installed with precision and care. From initial site consultation to mounting and final calibration, our team manages each step, delivering a smooth, seamless experience whether the work is destined for a private collection or a museum-grade environment.
Preserving legacy is at the heart of what we do. Each StageBlock portrait is crafted with durability in mind - from the choice of materials to the media itself. We provide lifetime support for both software and hardware, backed by securely archived documentation. Our team remains a committed partner for updates, repairs, and migrations, ensuring your artwork remains as vital years from now as the day it was created.
Our Ethos
Artwork
Accessibility
Bridging the gap between tradition and innovation, we ensure our digital portraits can be appreciated by both conventional collectors and those eager to explore contemporary forms.
Digital
Adoption
We guide audiences and collectors in embracing digital art sustainably, combining cutting-edge technology with enduring craftsmanship and environmental care.
Essays
"StageBlock Studio operates at the intersection of portraiture, performance, and technology, continuing a lineage that stretches from traditional theatrical painting to the time-based experiments of artists like Andy Warhol. Just as Warhol’s screen tests transformed the moving image into a form of psychological portraiture, Sattari-Hicks and StageBlock Studio reimagine the actor’s portrait as an event - a collaboration between stillness and potential, image and identity, while carving out a new space in contemporary portraiture, one that is both reverent and radically inventive...."
"... their work speaks fluently to both traditional collectors and institutions rooted in oil and canvas, and to those embracing the future of digital art with equal reverence. By presenting digital portraiture with the gravitas, craftsmanship, and curatorial rigor typically reserved for traditional media, the studio invites established audiences to expand their definitions of permanence, while providing new collectors with an accessible entry point into a lineage of portraiture - positioning physical digital art not as a departure from tradition, but as its natural evolution..."
Sustainable
Practices
Environmental responsibility is central. We use sustainable production techniques, responsibly sourced materials, and adopt low-impact digital platforms to minimise our ecological footprint.
Ethical
Production
Every Living Portrait is crafted without AI, respecting the human artistry and soul behind each piece. We follow traditional, ethical methods that honor the artists and their creative vision.
Community
Support
We aim to reinvest in the live performance community, supporting artists, institutions, and projects. Our work remains accessible and created to be shared publicly.
Company registered in England #13367743
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Contact
86-90 Paul Street, London,
EC2A 4NE
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Proud to be selected for
Kinetic, interactive and experiential artworks featuring world renowned subjects. Where each unique and reimagined piece of living portraiture and collectable performance is presented through physical and deeply intimate displays.
