Reading the Streets: Faile’s mural at Bowery and Houston St.
Comic book and pulp imagery makes for eye-catching wall space. Mural by Faile, photography by Kelsey Savage Hays.
NEW YORK – Faile, the Brooklyn-based pair of street artists, are the creators of that vibrant, arresting mural on the space at Houston and Bowery. The superhero collage took several days to wheat paste, and that’s before the duo went in to hand-paint details.
The result is one of the most astounding murals that has ever gone up on the NYC wall, which is owned by Goldman Properties and has been home to many well-regarded works, including Shepard Fairey’s May Day in 2010.
Patrick McNeil and Patrick Mullen joined together in 1999 to form Faile. Their repurposing of mass culture and pulp images has brought them great acclaim across the United States and Europe—including an invitation in 2008 to paint the exterior of the Tate Modern in London.
Since the start of their collaboration the two Patricks have adapted their signature use of collage to create puzzle boxes, sculptures and prayer wheels. They’ve even developed their own app (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/faile-puzzle-boxes/id437115432?mt=8&ls=1) designed for iPhone and iPad in which you can create your own art work out of pieces of Faile’s original images.
Since completing the mural downtown, they’ve opened a solo show called “Fragments of Faile,” on display at the Lazarides Gallery in London (http://www.lazinc.com/).
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Comic book and pulp imagery makes for eye-catching wall space. Mural by Faile, photography by Kelsey Savage Hays.
The detailed mural took several days to complete. Mural by Faile, photography by Kelsey Savage Hays.
The wall space on Bowery and Houston Street has been a host to some of the best names in street art, including Shepard Fairey and Kenny Scharf. Mural by Faile, photography by Kelsey Savage Hays.
A close-up of the large-scale, graphic art collage by Faile. Mural by Faile, photography by Kelsey Savage Hays.
