The Wildest Imagination: Invader’s Sticked Objects
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The well-known French street artist Invader is most recognized for his pixelated mosaics that draw inspiration from classic video games. His works transcend the digital realm and go break the boundaries between video games and real life. However, mosaics are not the only art he does. In this blog, we will take a look at some of Invader’s other art pieces, or even as a side project of his.
The Scooter
This is Invader’s scooter. It is covered with layers and layers of spray paint, graffiti, and stickers, hiding the Piaggio scooter behind paint and color. Some say it is a Piaggio Zip, a Piaggio Skipper, or a Piaggio Sfera, but it remains a mystery. It seemingly resembles a compressed version of street art, with everything merged into the same place.
It is believed that Invader has been using his scooter for up to 15 years. Some say he’s even used it as a getaway vehicle for placing his mosaics. But after all, there isn’t sufficient information on when or even if he started riding it as a means of transportation or if it’s just a piece of art. The only info we have is that it is used in the prelude of the Exhibition Catalog, Invader: Part 3, which quotes, “A scooter covered in stickers slowed down in front of the window and stopped.”. This quote refers to the first encounter between Franck Le Feuvre, a french gallerist, and Invader.
If you googled images of Invader’s scooter, the images will not be the real thing. Rather, it would be a print that he released in 2015 at a solo exhibition in Hong Kong, titled Wipe Out.
At the same Wipe Out show, he also displayed the scooter. The scooter, which had been used for fifteen years, was not sealed with a glass case or anything, just casually placed on a pad.
Invader’s scooter is meant to reference Tsang Tsou Choi’s, the King of Kowloon’s, Calligraphy on Scooter, which was featured in the Wipe Out exhibition in Hong Kong. Tsang Tsou Choi's works, often including Chinese calligraphy, are located all across Hong Kong.
The Fire Extinguisher
Another art piece covered in stickers is the fire extinguisher made by Invader in 2007. With what seems to be a variety of translucent, green-coloured Space Invaders wallpaper and opaque stickers with a white background, the original color of the fire extinguisher is completely covered up. In addition, hidden behind the sea of Space Invaders, there is more stickers and patterns underneath, such as Rubik-cubism stickers, making it a unique piece that cannot be recreated.
As a side note, the picture above is an image of the fire extinguisher instead of a print. This fire extinguisher has never been sold to the public.
The real fire extinguisher has once been exhibited in a group show called The Streets of Europe, (2007), by the Jonathan Levine Project. It featured many artists’ works, and Invader was one of them. In the show, Invader exhibited at least three of his works.
Four years later in 2011, stickers of the fire extinguisher were released by Invader, sizing at 4 x 4 inches.
miscellaneous
There are some instances where different other objects are also covered in stickers, representing the love of Invader’s with objects that are sticked with different decorations. They are namely the sticked monitor, statue, and mobile.