Gauntlet Gallery
What is D*Face’s piece called “Street Improvements 3”
Summary
A cream-ground screen print built like a vintage household-product advertisement: a black aerial bomb fitted with D*Face's signature cartoon wings drifts down from the sky over a pale-blue city skyline, above a 1950s-style illustration of an overalled workman running with a paint can. Mock ad copy ("Saves You Time," a Good Housekeeping-style seal, "Painting Experience Done") and a bold "Street Improvements / makes all the difference to the World" banner pin the joke down. It is an early example of D*Face hijacking commercial-advertising language to satirise consumerism and Cold War-era propaganda imagery.
Why It Matters
The print sits squarely in D*Face's core method: lifting the visual grammar of mid-century advertising and product-endorsement seals, then loading it with menace. Here a falling bomb is sold to you as a convenient time-saving "street improvement." The winged-bomb motif riffs on his recurring winged iconography (the D*Dog wings), while the cheerful workman and Good Housekeeping parody skewer the gap between marketing optimism and real-world consequence. It is a clear statement of the consumerism-and-power satire that runs through his work, executed in the flat, poster-like screen-print style that defined the late-2000s British urban-art moment.
Collector Perspective
An edition of 79 is on the smaller side for a D*Face screen print of this period, which helps on scarcity, though this is a text-and-advertising-parody composition rather than one of the marquee D*Dog or doomed-lovers images that command his strongest demand. That places it as a solid mid-tier collector piece: appealing to buyers who want an early, concept-driven D*Face at a more accessible level than his signature comic-romance prints. Hand-signed and numbered examples in clean condition are the ones to hold out for; condition on the wide cream margins matters here, as toning or handling marks are easy to spot on this paper.
Historical Context
Dated 2008, this falls in D*Face's early street era, when he was translating his sticker- and paste-up-driven street practice into editioned prints and consolidating the StolenSpace gallery scene he co-founded. The imagery deliberately borrows from 1940s-50s American advertising and wartime propaganda: the heroic running tradesman, the certification seal, the confident slogan, a vocabulary street artists of the moment frequently subverted. The bomb-as-product reads as a comment on how aggression and consumption get packaged and sold, consistent with the anti-establishment satire that characterised British urban art in the years around 2008.
FAQ
What does Street Improvements 3 depict?
A cream-ground mock advertisement: a black aerial bomb fitted with cartoon wings falls from the sky over a blue city skyline, above a vintage-style illustration of a workman in overalls running with a paint can. Ad-style copy ('Saves You Time,' a Good Housekeeping-style seal) and a bold 'Street Improvements / makes all the difference to the World' banner complete the parody.
What is the edition size?
The edition is 79.
What medium is it?
It is a screen print (silkscreen) on paper, dated 2008.
Is it signed and numbered?
D*Face limited-edition prints of this period are typically hand-signed and numbered in pencil; this example shows pencil marks in the lower margin, though specific signature and numbering details should be confirmed against the individual sheet.
Who is D*Face?
D*Face is British street artist Dean Stockton (b. 1978, London), a pop-art provocateur known for defacing advertising, comic-book romance and celebrity imagery, for motifs like the winged-eyed D*Dog and grinning skulls, and for co-founding the StolenSpace gallery.
Related Works
About the Artist
D*Face is the working name of Dean Stockton (b. 1978, London), a leading figure in British street art. He came up pasting stickers and posters across London in the early 2000s, then built a pop-fuelled visual language that defaces comic-book romance, advertising and celebrity iconography. Recurring motifs include his winged-eyed D*Dog, grinning skulls and doomed comic-strip lovers. His practice spans screenprints, hand-painted multiples, sculpture and large-scale murals worldwide, and he co-founded the StolenSpace gallery in London. His work satirises consumerism, power and our collective obsession with fame.
Collecting D*Face at Gauntlet Gallery
Where can I buy authentic D*Face prints?
Gauntlet Gallery offers an extensive, authenticated inventory of D*Face prints and contemporary editions, with new drops added regularly. Browse the current collection at gauntlet.gallery.
How does Gauntlet Gallery ensure authenticity?
Gauntlet Gallery is built on curation, authenticity and transparency — every work is vetted and its provenance, edition details and condition are disclosed up front.
Does Gauntlet Gallery add new D*Face prints?
Yes. New drops are released regularly across D*Face and other leading artists; see gauntlet.gallery for the latest inventory.