By Peter Frank, senior curator at the Riverside Art Museum and art critic for Angeleno Magazine.

Instantly recognized as one of the UK’s most prolific Urban Contemporary artists, D*Face (Dean Stockton) has occupied the forefront of his practice since his first sell out show in 2005.

Born and raised in London, his childhood interests of graffiti, Californian skate culture and punk aesthetic were well nurtured from an early age. Having come across the likes of Jim Phillips and Vernon Courtlandt Johnson amidst the pages of Thrasher Magazine, he was initially inspired to follow a path of graphic design and illustration, before eventually taking a more freelance approach to his art.

After learning to screen print his own stickers, he took the public domain of the street as his canvas, blending art, design and graffiti in a manner that pre-dated the emergence of street art as it is known today. It was in this newly founded outlet that D*Face quickly gained attention from others, mainly for the clean, vivid nature of his designs that quickly spread across the city. Even today, D*Face continues to approach his work with the same anarchic energy that drove his career from the outset. His murals can be found across the globe and his subversive-pop style and iconic D*Dog logo have become an inseparable part British Urban art and it’s ever expanding medium.

Often describing his work as ‘aPOPcalyptic’, D*Face seeks in his work to pick up where the masters of 1980’s American Pop left off - to establish a very real, albeit tongue in cheek criticism of our consumer dominated world. By subverting the images and icons of the everyday, the artist encourages the eye of the beholder not just to ‘see’ but to carefully consider that which they may otherwise take for granted. By re-appropriating media from decades of materialistic over-consumption - advertising, comic books and on-screen romance and reshaping it with cleaner lines and the vibrant hues of his pallet, D*Face’s work acts as a necessary wake up call to overly-conspicuous society of the 21st century.

In terms of artistic and cultural collaborations, D*Face has worked on countless projects with the likes of Shepard Fairey, Banksy, Blink-182 and Triumph Motorcycles, just to name a few. His connections to both the music world and motorcycle culture stem from a lifelong passion for both and the chance to work with prestigious British brands, like Triumph Motorcycle Company represent achievements of great personal significance for the artist. Similarly, many of his personal career highlights come from work he has produced alongside many of the other giants within the Urban Contemporary scene. He often quotes his earliest meetings with Shepard Fairey, running the streets with paste-ups and time spent in the many urban artistic hide-outs of London’s East-End during the last 90’s, as some of the most memorable and formative artistic moments.

As a final cherry on the cake, beyond solo exhibitions, global mural commissions and a host of top secret projects, D*Face is also founder and owner of his own London gallery, StolenSpace, which has been host to countless artists from the Urban Contemporary scene, both established and emerging alike. As the first of its kind, the gallery represents a significant cultural landmark within the history of the movement and continues to define it moving forward. With so much in the works, it's hard to say what's next in store for one of the UK’s most eminent urban artists.

‘D*Face is one of Britain's leading "newbrow" artists, and damn if he isn't as sharp and clever - if not quite as surreptitious – as Banksy (and sharper and cleverer by half than Damien Hirst.)’