FAILE INTERVIEW: I Wanted Thrills

Out of Brooklyn New York, FAILE is an artist duo consisting of Patrick Miller and Patrick McNeil. Creating imaginative moments of fantasy, they always seem to capture the perfect moments. They take bits and pieces of anything inspiring them and very cleverly assemble them all together to create a sum greater than all the individual parts. As important as it is to see the bigger picture, zoom in a bit and see what you may find. You never know what’s hiding right in front of your eyes. We went by their studio to check it out and see how they work day to day. We present to you the extraordinary world of FAILE.

FAILE INTERVIEW //

What were your first creative outlets as a kid?
Patrick McNeil (P): My parents got me little art supply kits. They came in a plastic box. I remember that. Dabbling with paints early on, but not really having like an aha moment until like high school. My high school teacher gave me some acrylic paints. I started messing with it. That was for the first time and I was like, Oh my god, I love this.

What is the name Faile?
P: I think when we were playing with the letters and found that word faile, it resonated, the duality of it. You’re going to take on a name with a negative connotation, this idea that you have to risk failure to succeed and try things and be willing to like break down things along the way. Kinda took on that kind of meaning for us.

How important is your subject matter to you?
Patrick Miller (M): Image making is at the core of our work. So it’s something we think about a lot.

We think about the symbols, the meanings, the icons, the nostalgia.

I think all of these things go into this stew. Putting in these different ingredients. It’s very cut and paste.

I almost think of it musically sometimes. In the same way that you’d have different tracks, you’d make different sounds and beats.

I think a lot of our imagery is about storytelling. It’s about whimsy. It’s supposed to be more visceral but give you an opportunity to dive into it.
I think we like to make images that feel like the beginning of a story or a part of a story. And from there you fill in the blanks and it means something to you that it doesn’t necessarily mean to us.

Oftentimes it’s great when we can communicate something that we’re feeling through the imagery. But if you can’t deliver an image to a viewer where they can’t take the reigns from there and project into it, you’re sort of missing something. Sometimes that can be very mysterious,

Yeah it seems that you are trying to capture that right one split second in time capture that right one split second in time.
M: Finding that spontaneity, finding that, layering process and the unexpected juxtapositions that happen. The way the city kind of casts this personality to itself where things disappear and appear all the time.

How do you think your life has changed over 20 years?
M: The process of our career has changed over 20 years in the sense that when we were first starting it was all new.

You were kind of making it as we went, whereas now you are making it with the reference point, multiple reference points over time. Things that worked, things that didn’t, things that you liked.

I really love it that we have the opportunity to do those things. I always have, I think both Patrick and I have these little things in our back pocket that we want to be doing.

I think we have that unique relationship and really know each other, we can push and pull qualities out of each other, knowing that we really have different strengths and weaknesses and that’s been a really great dynamic to push and pull.

P: You grow a lot 20 years, your ideas evolve and romance changes. It’s nice to see those stories evolve and change as well.

I think some of my favorite pieces of yours are the woodblock pieces, where you put all of these separate pieces that are all beautiful themselves, but all coming together to make something greater.
M: It’s funny because I think a lot about that element a lot. Between us two as a collaboration and working with assistants and other people to help fabricate things.

It’s all these individual players coming together to make something that’s bigger than just all those little parts. Making images is exactly the same way for us. We’re taking from all these little bits and pieces, recombining them in a new way.