Brooklyn-based street art duo FAILE (featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 18) is now putting the finishing touches on their upcoming European exhibition. “Fuel, Fantasy, Freedom”, which opens July 2nd at Galerie Hilger NEXT in Vienna, brings FAILE’s intensely colored work to Europe since their 2013 mural hosted by Hilger.
Vienna Mural by FAILE, 2013
Over the years, FAILE has experimented with pop culture inspired work that push the limits of urban art from their murals and outdoor installations to indoor spaces. Painting has remained at the heart of it all. Here, they’ve taken inspiration from the simplicity of children’s drawings to represent childhood memories and nostalgia for American 1970s design. When we last saw FAILE, they had recreated memories of playing video games in a vibrant, interactive installation plastered with neon posters. Their new screen prints emphasize the same playful spirit with images of fairytale creatures, tricked-out seventies muscle cars, and other personal tokens from uniforms and decals to posters and glossy magazines. “Fuel, Fantasy, Freedom” promises to be FAILE’s most personal body of work to date.
“Fuel, Fantasy, Freedom” by FAILE will exhibit at Galerie Hilger NEXT from July 2 – September 6, 2014.
Process work:
Inside a run-down building off Berlin’s Nollendorfplatz, an area known historically for both its gay culture and punk community, 12 artists from eight countries (Fernando Chamarelli, João Ruas, Alexis Diaz (La Pandilla), NoseGo, Word to Mother, Curiot, Low Bros, Andrew Schoultz, Glenn Barr, C215, Dabs Myla, and JBAK) worked for two days to create original artworks for the facades and windows of the currently unused site (exciting news about the future of this space to come).
San Francisco-based artist 
While graffiti was once considered a sign of urban blight, many artists who got their start as taggers are now becoming embraced by progressive-minded art institutions and civic organizations alike. Enter, the