While Banksy has grabbed international headlines for unveiling not one but four new works this week, it turns out he is not the only elusive street artist revealing fresh pieces this week.
Invader, an anonymous French artist who has gained a loyal following across the globe, also took to the streets this week, putting up a new work that is visible from the Seine. He made the world aware of the piece this week by posting a picture of it to Instagram, calling the work “a special piece for the olympics.”
The work, like many others by Invader, resembles a blue pixelated form, its contours vaguely recalling an athlete on the move. A representative for the artist reinforced that interpretation in a statement to the Associated Press, saying, “Invader told me to say that he wanted to celebrate the Olympics in Paris with this mosaic. The space invader is running and he wears some of the colors of the Olympics signage.”
According to the AP, this new work is the 1,512th debuted by Invader on the streets of Paris. Other works by him have appeared in cities ranging from Hong Kong to Rome.
Despite the fact that Invader’s practice is technically illegal under French law—it qualifies as vandalism—officials in the country have pledged support for him. The New Yorker reported last year that Anne Hidalgo, Paris’s Mayor, has an Invader piece hanging in her office. And while it was not clear whether this new piece, formally titled PA_1512, was formally sanctioned by the Olympics, he did tag the accounts for 2024 Paris games and the city of Paris in his Instagram post.
Much of his art takes its inspiration from arcade games. “The main point of my work is that I give physical materiality to the pixel,” he told the New Yorker.
