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Why are 1980s video game characters plastered all over Paris?
By Alix Martichoux,
19 hours ago
(NEXSTAR) – Keep your eyes peeled during the Olympics coverage all around Paris this summer. You may spot Mario, Pac-Man or a little alien from the game “Space Invaders.”
The pixelated street art isn’t what you typically imagine when you think of the French art scene. Mona Lisa at the Louvre or Monet’s water lilies are more likely to come to mind. But you don’t need to buy a ticket or wait in line to see the works of one of Paris’ most prolific street artists, who goes by the name Invader.
The artist has worked to hide his true identity as he has slapped the sides of buildings and monuments with the pixelated-looking pieces of art. When he started in 1998, Invader just did mosaics of characters from the game “Space Invaders” around Paris.
But since then his territory has massively expanded to include 83 cities, which he “invades” one at a time, plastering buildings and streets with dozens of symbols under the cover of darkness.
A mosaic by French artist Invader, in red top left, is seen on a street of Paris, near the Eiffel Tower, Friday, March 1, 2024. For the Paris Olympics, it could almost have been a new sport: Score points by scouring France’s capital for mosaics that a mystery artist who calls himself “Invader” has cemented to walls across the city, across the world and even had carried aloft to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A mosaic by French artist Invader, left, is seen on a street of Paris, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. For the Paris Olympics, it could almost have been a new sport: Score points by scouring France’s capital for mosaics that a mystery artist who calls himself “Invader” has cemented to walls across the city, across the world and even had carried aloft to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A mosaic by French artist Invader, top right, is seen on a street of Paris, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. For the Paris Olympics, it could almost have been a new sport: Score points by scouring France’s capital for mosaics that a mystery artist who calls himself “Invader” has cemented to walls across the city, across the world and even had carried aloft to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A mosaic by French artist Invader, top left, is seen on a street of Fontainebleau, south of Paris, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. For the Paris Olympics, it could almost have been a new sport: Score points by scouring France’s capital for mosaics that a mystery artist who calls himself “Invader” has cemented to walls across the city, across the world and even had carried aloft to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A mosaic by French artist Invader, top center, is seen on a street of Fontainebleau, south of Paris, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. For the Paris Olympics, it could almost have been a new sport: Score points by scouring France’s capital for mosaics that a mystery artist who calls himself “Invader” has cemented to walls across the city, across the world and even had carried aloft to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A mosaic by French artist Invader depicting jazz musician Django Reinhardt on a street of Samois-sur-Seine, south of Paris, Friday, March 1, 2024. For the Paris Olympics, it could almost have been a new sport: Score points by scouring France’s capital for mosaics that a mystery artist who calls himself “Invader” has cemented to walls across the city, across the world and even had carried aloft to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
An Invader mosaic shows a character from the movie “Gremlins.” (Russell Falcon/Nexstar)
A boy takes a photo of a mosaic by French artist Invader depicting Napoleon, on a street of Fontainebleau, south of Paris, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. For the Paris Olympics, it could almost have been a new sport: Score points by scouring France’s capital for mosaics that a mystery artist who calls himself “Invader” has cemented to walls across the city, across the world and even had carried aloft to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
The 1,500th mosaic by French artist Invader, center background, is seen on the top of the Pompidou art center, in Paris, Friday, March 1, 2024. For the Paris Olympics, it could almost have been a new sport: Score points by scouring France’s capital for mosaics that a mystery artist who calls himself “Invader” has cemented to walls across the city, across the world and even had carried aloft to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A mosaic by French artist Invader, top left, is seen on a street of Paris, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. For the Paris Olympics, it could almost have been a new sport: Score points by scouring France’s capital for mosaics that a mystery artist who calls himself “Invader” has cemented to walls across the city, across the world and even had carried aloft to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A mosaic by Invader in Paris. (Bill Disbrow/Nexstar)
One of his pieces is affixed high up on the Eiffel Tower. The artist even became a literal “Space Invader” when one of his tags ended up on a window in the International Space Station in 2015.
An Invader work, created for the 2024 Olympics, is tucked away along the Coulée Verte in Paris. (Alix Martichoux / Nexstar)
His subject matter has also expanded quite a bit since his start in ’90s. While the video game characters abound, Smurfs, Gremlins and the Pink Panther also all appear among the 4,192 Invader artworks around the world.
Invader says he likes the 1980s iconography because “they are the perfect icons of our time, a time where digital technologies are the heartbeat of our world.” Because they’re made of pixels, they also lend themselves well to a tiled mosaic.
Not all the artworks are targeted at video game nerds or nostalgia. Some pay a tongue-in-cheek tribute to their location, like an avocado in Los Angeles, a camel in Morocco or money bags above a bank.
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