The collective started out in 1999 as a group of three artists: two men, Patrick McNeil, Patrick Miller and a woman, Aiko Nakagawa. They are recognized as pioneering artists in the scene - although they came at the tail end of the street art boom of the late '90s, after artists like Shepard Fairey, whom they cite as an early stylistic influence. What makes Faile distinct in their genre is the intent behind their work. From the beginning, they sought to create art for urban spaces that was neither political nor aggressive. On the surface, Faile's work often appears to be images taken from comic books, pulp fiction novels and even Yellow Pages adverts. There are however a number of concepts which underlie Faile's gritty pop culture graphics. Most notably these are dualism and collaboration. Furthermore the effect of the street itself on street art has gone on to become a source in itself.
In recent years the street, which originally served as the gallery, has become more of an inspiration. Recent works have the appearance of collages made up of numerous classic core images. Images are ripped, repeated and combined to echo the appearance of multiple fly-posters placed on top of one another. The overall effect of the composite is to replicate of layers, textures and weathering of street art.
Faile themselves have cited the artist Robert Rauschenberg (a pre pop-art artist who often used found objects and was a prolific screen printer), Stanley Kubrick (famed for his classic imagery) Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly and Roy Lichtenstein as influences.
www.faile.net
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