Space Invader

Invader (born 1969) is a French urban artist who pastes up characters from and inspired by the 1978 arcade game Space Invaders game, made up of small coloured square mosaic tiles that form a space invader character mural. He does this in cities across the world, then documents this as an "Invasion", with books and maps of where to find each invader.

Invader is responsible for perhaps the most recognizable street art stunt of the last decade. In a planet-wide war of attrition, the pixilated expansionist aliens from Space Invaders stalked the Earth once more, appearing everywhere from on the 'Hollywood' letters to Jacques Chirac's lapel.

Invader started this project in 1998 with the invasion of Paris – the city where he lives and the most invaded city to date – and then spread the invasion to 31 other cities in France (such as Montpellier, Marseille, Avignon, Rennes, Bordeaux, Lille, Chartres, or Bastia…). London, Cologne, Geneva, Newcastle, Rome, Berlin, Lausanne, Barcelona, Bonn, Ljubljana, Vienna, Graz, Amsterdam, Bilbao, Manchester, Darlington, Istanbul are among the 22 other European cities which have been invaded. Throughout the world, São Paulo, Los Angeles, New York City, San Diego, Toronto, Bangkok, Tokyo, Katmandu, Varanasi, Melbourne, Perth and even Mombasa are now invaded with his colourful characters in mosaic tiles.

The mosaics depict characters from Space Invaders and other video games from the early 1980s. The images in these games were made with fairly low-resolution graphics, and are therefore suitable for reproduction as mosaics, with tiles representing the pixels. The tiles are difficult to damage and weather-resistant.



Space Invader in Amsterdam
Invader installed his first mosaic in the mid 1990s in Paris. According to the artist, it was a scout, or sentinel, because it remained the only one for several years. The programme of installations began in earnest in 1998.



Invader in Paris
The locations for the mosaics are not random, but are chosen according to diverse criteria, which may be aesthetic, strategic or conceptual. Invader favours locations that are frequented by many people, but also likes some more hidden locations. In Montpellier, the locations of mosaics were chosen so that, when placed on a map, they form an image of a giant space invader character.

The mosaics are half built in advance. When Invader arrives in a city he obtains a map and spends at least a week to install them. They are catalogued, pictured and Invader uses a map indicating their locations within the city. Typically, mosaics are located 10 to fifteen feet above the ground, and often on street corners in areas of high visibility.



Invader in Los Angeles
One of the more prominent places where the mosaics have been installed is on the Hollywood Sign. The first was placed on the letter D on December 31, 1999. During further trips to Los Angeles, Invader has placed mosaics on the 8 other letters of the sign.

Invader also works on another project that he titles "Rubikcubism", which involves making artworks made of Rubik's Cubes. Invader has had solo exhibitions at art galleries in Paris, Osaka, Melbourne, Los Angeles, New York City, London and Rome.

Most recently, Invader placed two of his iconic tile works on the World Of Wonder Storefront Gallery, located at 6650 Hollywood Blvd., in Hollywood, CA. for the 4th annual I Am 8 Bit group show.

Since 2000 Space Invader has shown in many galleries, art centers and museums, from the 6th Lyon contemporary art biennale (2001), the MAMA Gallery in Rotterdam (2002), at the Paris based Magda Danysz Gallery (2003), at the Borusan Center for Culture and Arts in Istanbul, Subliminal Projects in Los Angeles (2004), etc..

In 2010, he was one of the featured artists in the Banksy film Exit Through the Gift Shop in which it is claimed that he is a cousin of Thierry Guetta (Mr. Brainwash).

In 2011, he has taken part in the MoCA LA show at Geffen Contemporarya : "Art in the streets" curated by Jeffrey Deitch. He was the first artist arrested for taking part in the show.

As of July, 2011, no arrest has been made of either of the two French nationals who were detained by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on suspicion of vandalism near MOCA's Little Tokyo gallery. Authorities believed one of the men detained only for suspicion was the French street artist Space Invader. Shortly after the two men were detained by LAPD, they were also released with no reported charges; however, authorities maintain one of the two men released was the artist "Invader".



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