Invader — born in France in 1969, identity permanently concealed — attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris before abandoning the conventional gallery route entirely and beginning, in 1998, the project that has defined his career: the systematic invasion of public space in cities worldwide with ceramic tile mosaics of pixelated alien characters derived from the 1978 arcade game Space Invaders.
The logic of the project is precise and cumulative. Each city receives between 20 and 50 mosaics, placed with care and consideration — responding to the local architecture, culture, and visual environment, often in locations that are technically inaccessible and always where they will attract the maximum attention. Invader maintains invasion maps for each city, and has developed an app allowing users worldwide to locate and photograph his work, accumulating points in a game that mirrors the structure of the arcade original. Over 30 countries have been invaded. The International Space Station carries one of his works — the first artwork exhibited in space. An installation exists on the seabed off the coast of Cancún.
The ceramic tile medium was a practical and conceptual decision simultaneously — bathroom tiles as the material equivalent of the pixel, the domestic and the digital brought into the same object. His subsequent Rubikcubism series applies the same logic to the Rubik's Cube, another object defined by colour arrangement and the logic of the grid.
His market has strengthened considerably in recent years, with mosaics achieving significant prices at auction internationally and his print editions — published through respected houses including Heni — attracting serious collector attention. The CAMO series and the Rubik Shot Red Marilyn, available through Creed Gallery, demonstrate the range and formal intelligence of his practice beyond the street. Available through Creed Gallery, Ascot, for collectors across Berkshire, Surrey, and London.
