French Street Artist Space Invader Hits NYC To Promote His Movie

If you’re bummed (or excited) about London street artist Banksy leaving New York City at the end of the month, fret not. Another reputable foreign street artist by the name of Invader is just starting a residency in the city surrounding the NYC screening of his movie Art4Space yesterday. The French artist is known for these 8-bit mosaic pieces affixed to walls in hard to reach or obscure places. His pieces are already littered around the city, and the prolific artist has joined Instagram recently to document the newest of his nightly “invasions.”

Invader believes that space is the “future of humanity, so will it be for art.” (Image via Art4Space trailer, YouTube)

You might recognize some of his 8-bit critters from the 80’s video game Space Invaders (where he gets his name). The movie Art4Space documents his successful attempt to send one of his pieces into orbit.

His art takes the form of various video game references and has popped up in all corners of the world. Paris, where he lives, is the most invaded city to date but he has extensive maps on his site of various worldwide cities where the invasion has hit, such as Sao Paulo, Rome, Bilbao, Vienna, Manchester, and Los Angeles. Stay tuned to his new Instagram account @invaderwashere for updates on latest invasions in New York City, the second to last stop of his Art4Space tour before heading to London on November 15th.

Here are photos of some of the latest invasions with locations, all photos by Stephen Kelley:

1 Spring Street, a street art hotspot that was also the location for one of Christiaan Nagel’s Mushrooms, photo by Stephen Kelley

Hester and Centre Street, photo by Stephen Kelley

161 Hester Street, photo by Stephen Kelley

Olympic Restaurant, 115 Delancey Street, photo by Stephen Kelley

183 Bowery, photo by Stephen Kelley