SPACE INVADER

SPACE INVADER and has maintained total anonymity "for safety reasons, originally, and then mostly for fun”. His first piece, a small mosaic replica of a Space Invader (a famous 70s-80s video game) character, is put up in the 1990s, in his hometown, Paris. It’s the first of many to come. “It all started when I put the first space invader in a Parisian alley. It was a sentinel, and it spent a few years alone. The invasion itself started in 1998, when I activated the Space Invader program.” The invasion is massive, as the video game inspired mosaics appear around the world, unsigned, creating a buzz from London and Los Angeles to Tokyo, New York, Bangkok, etc." “I kept the name of the game as an alias because it’s a perfect definition of my work itself. I’m a space invader. It’s very binary." His link with Street Art is not that obvious. He discovers the Graffiti scene afterwards. His originality, however, opens some doors and he finds a warm welcome in the movement, integrating its culture: “I found a lot of energy and life there, as well as a family. (…) I’ve maintained friendships and interesting references." The proliferating work of Space Invader is a process, which was set up step by step, progressively taking over cities around the world: Aix-en-Provence, Amsterdam, Antibes, Antwerp, Avignon, Bangkok, Barcelona, Bastia, Berlin, Bern, Bilbao, Bordeaux, Cannes, Clermont-Ferrand, Dhaka, Geneva, Grenoble, Hong-Kong, Istanbul, Katmandu, Lausanne, Le Lavandou, Lille, Ljubljana, London, Los Angeles, Lyon, Manchester, Marseille, Melbourne, Mombasa, Monaco, Montauban, Montpelier, Nantes, New York, Newcastle, Nice, Nimes, Bets, Po, Perth, Rennes, Rotterdam, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Tokyo, Gates, Varanasi, Vienna, SPACE INVADER is everywhere, and the buzz inflates… In 1999, fashion designer and collector Jean Charles de Castelbajac, an early Street Art fan, gives him his first break, which leads his way into the Art market. The following year, he invades the FIAC (the International French contemporary art fair), New York’s Armory Show and the Almine Rech gallery. Thus begins a long series of exhibits, fueled by his celebrity worldwide. He’s invited to Japan, Hong-Kong, Sweden, Holland, Australia, the United States, Turkey, UK, pursuing his viral process relentlessly. In 2007, he participates in the institutional exhibition dedicated to street culture at the Baltic Art Center in England.