PREVIEW: D*FACE – “Painting Over The Cracks” @ Corey Helford Gallery [Los Angeles]

UK artist, D*Face (Dean Stockton) is a fascinating sort that seems to exist in parallel worlds simultaneously. The highly prolific Urban Contemporary artist is one of those rare individuals that has managed to springboard a life of criminal mischief implied by his moniker into collaborations with brands like Triumph and Indian Motorcycles; David Beckham‘s Haig Club whiskey; ZIPPO, Kaspersky lab; UNIQLO, XLARGE Tokyo, and high-end jewelry designer, Joyería Suárez, without compromising his own style or vision and maintaining credibility in the underground art world from which he’d sprung. From the early days of screenprinting his own stickers and bombing the city, he’s gone on to create an evergrowing number of commissioned large-scale murals on massive buildings across the globe. Over the years he has collaborated with like-minded artists such as Banksy, Shepard Fairey, and Ron English, and his work tends to reflect similar themes as these contemporaries, as far as examining how media and capitalism skew our perspectives by subconsciously, yet methodically, invading and directing our lives. What all of these artists have in common is their ability to continuously draw from this fairly basic ethos at the heart of graffiti culture and pop art that pushes back on the ideas of who owns public spaces and challenges what we as a society idolize and hold in high regard, while consistently finding new approaches and establishing their own recognizable styles, in the process. What’s interesting about D*Face‘s work is that he is often directly referencing pop art itself to develop his own aesthetic that, at times, is part Roy Lichtenstein comic strip-style 60s Pop Art mixed with the bold graphic imagery of 80s skateboard artists like Jim Philips and Vernon Courtlandt Johnson, whose work spoke to him from the pages of Thrasher Magazines he read growing up. A British kid fascinated with Southern California skate culture is an interesting mix on its own, as D*FACE is at once chipping away at what Lichtenstein referred to as “a purely American mythological subject matter,” while, mythologizing a purely American subculture in its own right. Pulling from these disparate worlds, he meets somewhere in the middle to distort the whole thing, hoping to inspire some self-reflection on our individual roles and participation in this entire circus. This week, Stockton will return to SoCal for Painting Over The Cracks, his third ever solo exhibition at the Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles.

The following excerpt is taken from the official press release for the event:

Often describing his work as ‘aPOPcalyptic,’ D*Face seeks 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.

Regarding his new works, D*Face shares, “Yes, yes, I’m aware the actual expression is to ‘paper over the cracks’ but for obvious reasons, painting felt more appropriate to me and to this show ─ with nearly one hundred murals under my belt, I’ve spent my fair share of time painting over real cracks in real walls. If you haven’t heard the expression before, it essentially refers to the act of ignoring or hiding an issue in both the literal and metaphorical sense ─ it’s putting on a brave face and pretending that ‘the issue’ doesn’t really exist.” Adding, “After living through an unprecedented, historical moment in time that saw us globally locked down as a result of the pandemic, I think we’ve witnessed our fair share of ‘cracks’ appearing across society and culture alike, some fresh, some older, and some deeper than before. In many of these cases it felt like the approach was to apply a big dollop of metaphorical paint to cover them up, only for the cracks to reappear slightly worse further down the line. This show and body of work is a collection of my own personal observations and feelings from the last couple of years. My intention is not a love letter to what we have lost and nor is it a celebration of the change that was catalysed by the pandemic, because, let’s face it, there’s been good and bad in both. Rather, it’s a visual acknowledgement of the altered society in which we now find ourselves and which we must strive to make better.”

Check out preview images for the exhibition below the following event details…

WHAT:

PAINTING OVER THE CRACKS
Solo Exhibition by D*FACE

WHEN:

Opening:
Saturday, August 6th, 2022
7pm-10pm

WHERE:

Corey Helford Gallery
[Mainroom & Gallery 2]
571 S Anderson St (Enter on Willow St)
Los Angeles, CA 90033
Phone: (310) 287-2340

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Opening is ALL AGES w/NO COVER
Artist will be in attendance
Show on view until Saturday, September 10th, 2022
Gallery hours: Tues – Sat. noon – 6pm