Dean Stockton, also known as D*Face, is undoubtedly one of the most important urban artists right now. This London artist, born in 1978, began, like many of his contemporaries, creating his own hand made posters and pasting them on the streets of his hometown. Currently, D*Face has his own gallery and his exhibitions are an absolute sell-out beyond wherever they are held.
Very young, D*Face established a connection with Thrasher magazine, whose images and direct relationship with the culture of skateboarding and punk would influence him greatly and therefore his work. He completed a course in illustration and graphic design and worked as a freelance at the same time that he began experimenting with graffiti. By then, he got to know and understand the world of marketing, which he considers to be manipulative and interesting in the same measure. This artist would also use these concepts to build his own unique style.
As himself calls it, D*Face's aPOPcalipsis restates the of Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein's pop art with some bizarre dyes to make a critique of nowadays culture and. He debunks the ideal of the "American dream" making the public think about how the almost unhealthy fascination with fashion and celebrities, fame and consumerism make us forget to stop and look around and appreciate the details that build our own lives.
The work of D*Face stands out for its vivid colours, its clean lines and for his of comic type depiction. In his rethinking of pop art, we can see how iconic images of famous people are demystified and so we can see the Queen of England with piercings or Jean-Michel Basquiat sticking out his tongue. Artists like Shepard Fairey (OBEY) or Banksy have great influence on his work.
In 2010, D*Face collaborated on the, American singer Christina Aguilera's "Bionic" album cover and in 2013 he took part in the exhibition Art Wars at the Saatchi Gallery. His work is regularly sold at many auction houses such as Christie's, Bonhams or Sotheby's, but the artist is still creating works in the streets to the public eye. He has painted murals in cities like New York, Tokyo and Las Vegas, but his biggest one so far is a wall of 10 meters high that sits in Malaga, Spain, next to another one of the same height created by Shepard Fairey, both commissioned by the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art.
