Who is Invader?
Introduction
A French urban artist whose real identity remains anonymous, and goes by his pseudonym of Invader, or sometimes Space Invader, started his journey as an urban artist. He is known for creating transformative mosaic installations with tile pixels all across the globe.
I always appear behind a mask. As such, I can visit my own exhibitions without any visitors knowing who I really am even if I stand a few steps away from them…
-Invader
Born in 1969 in Paris, France, the street artist references his name from the popular 1978 arcade game Space Invaders, which at the time took over the world by storm. As a 9-year-old when this game was released, Invader was instantly hooked onto the game, and has inspired Invader’s style of art to what we know it is today.
As such, Invader is known for his mosaic installations with tile pixels. Most depict characters from 8-bit video games, in particular Space Invaders.
As a side note, mosaics often refer to patterns or images made of small regular or irregular pieces of glass, tile, or stone of different colors covering a surface for decoration.
Invader didn’t simply use small pieces of tiles with random shapes and materials, he always used tiles made from ceramics in a squared dimension. By using a bunch of these square tiles, it creates a pixelated aesthetic. As if these creatures lived in another world and they are invading the Earth we live in.
Project Space Invaders
Over the past two decades, Invader has developed a large-scale project, code named: Space Invaders.
Everything started the day Invader decided to give a material appearance to pixelization through ceramic tiles.
Since the late 1990s when he first emerged with the idea, Invader has been “invading” cities by installing his unique art on walls, buildings, and other public surfaces. He placed his mosaics in cities all around the world as part of what he refers to as a "Space Invasion". From a corner of a bridge to the walls of malls and buildings, they appear everywhere. Invader’s pixelated mosaics are invading in every way possible.
These creatures were first deployed on the walls of Paris. Soon after, pixelated mosaics can be seen cities around the globe Especially in major metropolitan areas and more developed countries such as Paris, and London.
To date, Invader claims to have installed over 4,000 of his pixel art pieces in more than 80 cities worldwide. His work has become a part of the urban landscape in everyday life, silently invading our society.
You can check whether your city is invaded on World Invasion.
I first wanted to create a series of "canvases" but I soon realized that tiles were the perfect material to display these pieces directly on the walls.
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