I agree on the prints so far. They look drab to me.

However, the show IMO looks absolutely amazing. I think it's the use of color vs the lack of it in the prints shown that's the difference maker.

Had a look earlier over at the print shop and like most faile's the jpeg's do the actual work no justice. All the prints are on key foods paper and are nice and messy a nice contrast from most of the work at the show. Some are definitely way better than others but I've got my eye on a couple.

I wouldn't disagree with you about the prints but having been to both the faile and the parla show in the last 24 hours the faile show wins HANDS DOWN for me. The Parla show is good but the faile show is genre-transforming.

I haven't seen those prints with my own eyes (yet) so I reserve my judgment.
But why bringing Parla to this? Sorry don't get this. Is this some kind of a contest? Or what is it?
Anyway



really well said Pez.

Kaws! To quote a very well known west coast American street artist is 'little more than a kids toy designer'

Shocking.

And see, I'd place him with McGee and Fairey as the three American heavyweights to come out of the 1990's. McGee went museum, Fairey went graphic design, and KAWS went merchandising, but all three blazed the way for the current generation to actually make a living through their art. First ballot hall-of-famers.

i think mose is right to compare the two shows and it's hard not to. from my perspective, comparing the parla show which I only saw for the first time today hung over from the faile show they are both great but i really see the whole spectacle and showmanship of the Faile show as turning point; being at the event, as pezlow implies in his post, you could tell that plebs like me - while we still can get in to the party - arent the target audience for buying art For me, the boxes were cool, i didnt like many of the palette pieces, and couldnt get my head around the functionality of the prayer wheels but the canvases were museum quality.

PS the same could be said about a couple of the large Parla pieces at Elms but, as a whole show particularly with Faile's rise/evolution and position in the scene I agree with Pez on this one.

Very cool to hear. The genre has come far in the past few years and I think the economic crisis will hasten the separation of the wheat from the chaff. Some will step up and away, others just away.

Now, if only we could get a bit more scholarship.

I'm no big fan of Faile. but I think the big canvas's were superb, even though Faile and Parla have thier roots in the same genre, it, in my eyes is naive to compare the two, as in style and subject they are worlds apart, why someone should even try to compare the two is beyond me, "both brooklyn artists" so what!! just seems like yet another bit of hype for good ole boy Jose, surely it is purely a matter of taste, or perhaps a bit of highbrow, "my cats blacker than your cat"!!

totally agree mose

I never thought that Faile's canvases were made to simply appease collectors. I felt more the opposite, like they would just throw up some paste-ups to appease street fans while concentrating on their studio work.

I also don't see the size issue quite the same way as Pezlow. In fact I tend to think the size of these canvases is over the top now. It's questionable that they're making such huge and expensive items in these times and hope that making them so large wasn't done solely to get museum interest—if there is any. It also comes at a time where there has been criticism in 'fine art' circles about all the 'size queens' making utterly massive paintings and photos and that the trend may be on the way out—to some degree. To me it can come across as a cheap way to add importance to a piece by making it so large that you have to pay attention—like it's screaming at you.

I like that Faile are trying new things, the prayer totem pole type things I think are a great idea and add a nice element to the installation. I don't think they're that important part of their work to warrant £20k though.

But overall, from the pics I've seen, the work, the installation and space doesn't look nearly as impressive as the last NYC show in 2007. In one pic I saw a huge canvas hanging on a brown brick wall, an open door about 2 feet to the left, just looked sloppy. At the NYC show, the hanging, layout, lighting, all seemed perfect.

And the new images, some of them are ok, but I'm not entirely digging it. I think it's stiff, just doesn't feel as natural as their earlier work. I thought the pieces that combined elements from old work with some of their new native american imagery looked especially odd.

But that said I still like Faile and would definitely check out the show if I were in London. But I'm not entirely convinced about it.

Ah man I wish it was FairQ, really don't dig LAZ - reckon they're gonna be well expensive if they're releasing them.

Yeah they were pricey, I just have a feeling this means LAZ will pump em out even pricier especially after this new show. Maybe not. At a guess, what do you reckon the average price will be? I was thinking maybe around £2k.

How much higher? higher than a king?