When traveling throughout the idyllic city of Paris, a common sight is street-level art scattered on building sides, in remote areas, or on abandoned objects. However, by far the most common and most unusual is the art of Invader, a well-known street artist active around the world. This art first appeared in the late 1990s and has since become a well-known art phenomenon, commonly cited in major cities across the globe. A majority of the existing thousands of pieces are located in Paris, the main area of operation by the secretive artist.
Even a short visit to Paris is bound to encounter an artwork by Invader, commonly located in open, public areas just out of reach from passersby, almost as a means of mocking curious observers.
Invader gained his name through his propensity of using figures from the game ‘Space Invader‘, whose simple, pixelated figures became the signature of the street artist. As time has passed, the complexity and locations of the art pieces have steadily improved, likely to retain their unique nature and avoid vandalism of his art as they grow in infamy to tourists and art collectors.
The art itself is overly simple in concept and design, utilizing colorful tiles to create pixelart-esque mosaics, often depicting classic videogame characters or other simple figures. These mosaics are then attached to the sides of buildings, mostly in public, readily observable locations. The pixel art, though most utilize simple designs, can take on much more complex designs, ranging from full figures or imitations of famous artworks.
Overtime, due to their observable nature and many, many occurrences worldwide (I myself have seen several similar works in cities in the U.S. that may have been made by Invader), Invader has gained notoriety among street artists and the general art community similar to fellow street artists like Banksy, even to the point to leading to vandalism of the art pieces or likely copycats across separate cities. Yet, Paris retains its place as the center of Invader’s focus, as the aliens continue to invade the streets.
Invader’s work I think really adds an aspect of a treasure hunt around Paris. Perhaps American cities could learn from their work.