Gauntlet Gallery
What is D*Face’s piece called “Love Won't Tear Us Apart (Green HPM)”
Summary
A comic-book romance clinch rendered in D*Face's signature defacement: a slicked-haired leading man embraces a swooning blonde, but his face has been stripped to a grinning death's-head skull, his sleeve bearing the small winged-eye 'D*Dog' emblem. Set against muted teal Ben-Day halftone dots, this green-colourway HPM (hand-painted multiple) is a quintessential example of the artist's "doomed lovers" series, which turns mid-century pulp-romance imagery into a memento mori on love and mortality.
Why It Matters
D*Face built his reputation on hijacking the visual language of vintage comic-strip romance and advertising, then corrupting it with rotting flesh and skulls to puncture the fantasy of idealised love. The "Love Won't Tear Us Apart" series is among his most recognisable bodies of work, the title itself a knowing inversion of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart," layering post-punk melancholy over pop-art surface. The skull-faced suitor distils the artist's central preoccupation: that consumer culture sells romance and glamour while papering over decay and death. As an HPM, the work also bridges D*Face's print practice and his painting, each impression carrying hand-applied colour that ties it back to the gallery canvases.
Collector Perspective
With an edition of 100, this sits in the mid-tier of D*Face's print output by volume, but the HPM designation matters: each is hand-embellished, so no two are identical, which lifts it above a straight screen-print edition in both scarcity and desirability. The doomed-lovers motif is the artist's most collected and instantly legible image, giving it broad appeal among street-art buyers and steady secondary-market demand. The green colourway is one of several variant releases, so cross-shopping against other colourways is realistic when assessing value. Condition of the hand-painted passages and intact signature/numbering are the key factors a serious buyer should verify.
Historical Context
Produced in 2018 during D*Face's Established Era, the print continues a theme the artist has reworked since the late 2000s, drawing on the romance-comic panels of 1950s-60s American pulp (the source vocabulary shared with Roy Lichtenstein) and the consumer-glamour critique that runs through his and his StolenSpace gallery circle's work. The Ben-Day dot field, period hairstyling and clinch pose deliberately evoke mid-century advertising and comic books, while the death's-head and winged-eye motif mark it unmistakably as D*Face's defacement of that source material.
FAQ
What does this print depict?
A comic-strip-style romantic embrace between a man and a swooning blonde woman, where the man's face has been reduced to a grinning skull. His sleeve carries D*Face's winged-eye 'D*Dog' emblem, and the scene is set against muted teal halftone dots in a vintage pop-art style.
What is an HPM, and how does it affect this edition?
HPM stands for Hand-Painted Multiple, meaning each print in the edition has been individually hand-embellished by the artist. As a result, no two impressions are exactly alike, which makes HPMs more distinctive and generally more sought-after than uniform screen-print editions.
How large is the edition?
The edition size is 100.
Is the print signed and numbered?
D*Face limited prints are typically hand-signed and numbered by the artist, though this should be confirmed against the specific impression and its accompanying documentation.
Who is D*Face?
D*Face is the British street artist Dean Stockton (b. 1978, London), a pop-art provocateur known for defacing comic-book romance, advertising and celebrity imagery with skulls and his winged-eyed 'D*Dog' motif. He co-founded the StolenSpace gallery in London.
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.