Critical Review
Invasion Los Angeles 2.1 is a ceramic artwork made by the renowned French street artist Invader in 2018. Coming in an edition size of 30, Invader has produced a book with a micro-mosaic tile cover kept in a plexiglass box. Invader renders an alien in the centre of the cover using black tiles and sets it against a red and white background. The alien is inspired by the popular arcade game, Space Invaders, which was created by Taito in 1978. The explosive mosaic pattern animates the cover and hints to the tense and dramatic nature of the game.
The book was published to accompany Invader’s impressive installation project, the Space Invaders project, which the artist started in 1998. The project involves Invader travelling all over the world to install ceramic mosaics of aliens onto the walls of the cities he visits. Invader has been to over 30 countries and even installed a mosaic in the International Space Station in 2015.
Invasion Los Angeles 2.1 provides detailed information regarding the locations of the mosaics Invader installed around Los Angeles. The artist tries to install 20 to 50 mosaics per ‘invasion wave' and has developed a points system to rank the success fo each invasions, making the installation project into a game in and of itself.
