Gauntlet Gallery
What is D*Face’s piece called “District Art Fair (First Edition)”
Summary
A halftone-dotted comic-pop bust portrait of a green-skinned femme fatale with voluminous teal hair, heavy black eyeliner and parted red lips, rendered in D*Face's signature appropriated romance-comic idiom and accented with the small white wing motif that recurs across his work. A small caption box sits in the lower left, framing the figure like a panel lifted from a vintage pulp comic and corrupted into something colder and more sinister. Produced as a "First Edition" District Art Fair print, it sits squarely in D*Face's vein of subverting mid-century advertising and comic-strip glamour.
Why It Matters
D*Face built his name by hijacking the visual language of 1950s and 60s romance comics, pulp advertising and celebrity glamour, then twisting it into commentary on consumerism, vanity and fame. This print is a compact example of that project: the idealized comic heroine is recast with sickly green skin and a vacant, doomed expression, turning the seductive pin-up into a critique of the imagery that sold it. The winged accent ties the piece to the broader iconography (the winged 'D*Dog' and winged-eye motifs) that runs through his prints, murals and StolenSpace output.
Collector Perspective
An edition of 70 is genuinely small for a screen print, which limits how often this surfaces and supports a firm floor when it does. The doomed comic-strip heroine is one of D*Face's most recognizable and most desired subjects, more so than his abstract or text-only work, so demand for this motif tends to be steady. As a fair-tied "First Edition" it is more of a focused collector piece than a flagship image, so expect it to trade in the mid range of his print market rather than at the level of his largest signature releases. Condition and intact margins matter for a graphic screen print like this.
Historical Context
The imagery draws directly on mid-20th-century American romance and pulp comics, the same source material Roy Lichtenstein mined, but D*Face pushes it toward the macabre with corpse-toned skin and a hollow stare. The "District Art Fair" tie and "First Edition" designation place it as a print released in connection with an art-fair appearance, a common format for street-art editions of this kind. The year is unattributed, but the style and subject sit within D*Face's Pop Provocation era of appropriating and defacing consumer and comic imagery.
FAQ
What does this print depict?
A comic-pop bust portrait of a green-skinned woman with teal hair, heavy eyeliner and red lips, in D*Face's appropriated romance-comic style, with a small white wing accent and a caption box in the lower corner.
How large is the edition?
The edition size is 70.
What is the medium?
It is a screen print.
Is it signed and numbered?
D*Face limited prints are typically hand-signed and numbered by the artist; signing and numbering for this specific print are not separately confirmed here.
Who is D*Face?
D*Face is Dean Stockton (b. 1978, London), a British street artist and pop-art provocateur known for defacing comic, advertising and celebrity imagery, motifs like the winged '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.