Gauntlet Gallery
What is D*Face’s piece called “No Joke (Hand Painted Multiple)”
Summary
A hand-painted multiple reworking of a Lichtenstein-style romance-comic panel: a yellow-haired woman rests against a sharply tailored man whose face is half rendered as a grinning skull, with the speech bubble "I DON'T UNDERSTAND, HOW COULD YOU HAVE DIED... AND YET STILL BE ALIVE?? IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE?!" and the deadpan reply "IT'S NO JOKE!" in the corner. It distills D*Face's central trope of the doomed comic-strip lovers, here a literal romance between a living woman and a half-dead man, set against his trademark Ben-Day dot field.
Why It Matters
No Joke sits at the core of D*Face's mature pop-appropriation language, where the sentimental visual grammar of 1960s romance comics is hijacked to talk about mortality, denial and the absurdity of clinging to a corpse-like ideal. The skull-faced lover is one of his most recognisable subversions: it borrows Roy Lichtenstein's appropriation of mass print, then pushes it one step darker into memento-mori territory. The piece is a clean statement of his ongoing argument that the glossy promises sold to us are already dead on arrival, delivered with the wink of the comic-book caption.
Collector Perspective
As a hand-painted multiple rather than a straight edition print, each example carries unique hand-painted passages, which sits a tier above his open and larger screen-print runs in desirability and price. The doomed-lovers / skull motif is among the most sought-after in D*Face's catalogue, so demand for a strong example tends to be steady. Edition size here is unconfirmed; HPMs in his practice are typically small, which supports relative scarcity, but a buyer should confirm the exact run, signature and any accompanying documentation before assigning a firm value.
Historical Context
Made in 2013, during what we tag D*Face's Pop Provocation era, the work draws directly on the romance-comic panels popularised by 1950s-60s American publishers and famously mined by Roy Lichtenstein. D*Face, real name Dean Stockton (b.1978, London), built a career defacing exactly this kind of advertising, celebrity and comic imagery, and co-founded the StolenSpace gallery as a base for that scene. No Joke is a representative product of the period when he was consolidating the skull-lover and Ben-Day-dot vocabulary into finished gallery editions.
FAQ
What does No Joke depict?
A romance-comic scene rendered in Ben-Day dots: a blonde woman leaning against a sharply dressed man whose face is half a grinning skull, captioned 'I don't understand, how could you have died... and yet still be alive?? Is this some kind of joke?!' with the reply 'It's no joke!' in the lower corner.
What medium is this work?
It is a Hand Painted Multiple (HPM) from 2013, meaning a base print embellished or worked by hand, so individual examples carry unique painted passages rather than being identical.
How large is the edition?
The exact edition size is unconfirmed. Hand-painted multiples in D*Face's practice are typically produced in small numbers; confirm the specific run with the seller or gallery documentation.
Is it signed and numbered?
D*Face limited works are typically hand-signed and numbered by the artist, though this should be verified for this particular example before purchase.
Who is D*Face?
D*Face is the British street artist Dean Stockton (b.1978, London), a pop-art provocateur known for defacing comic, advertising and celebrity imagery with motifs like the winged-eyed D*Dog, grinning skulls and doomed comic-strip lovers; he co-founded 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.