Critical Review
Explosion is a signed screen print produced by the French street artist Invader in 2015. Coming in an edition size of 50, the print shows a pixelated image composed of red, orange and yellow pixels. The image refers to the explosions that occur in the popular arcade game, Space Invader, which the artist himself states is ‘the most addictive game I have ever played’.
The print is part of Invader’s Hello My Game Is collection which the artist worked on from 2007 to 2017. The name of the collection is a pun on the gaming tag: ‘Hello My Name is …’ Spanning a decade, the collection features a variety of different subjects, all of which employ an 8-bit register that is commonly associated with arcade games. In January 2017, Invader held a solo exhibition at the Musée en Herbe in Paris in which the artist showcased works from the Hello My Game Is collection.
This pixelated texture seen in Explosion has become a staple part of Invader’s visual language. The artist rose to fame in the 1990s when he took to the streets of Paris and adorned the city with Space Invaders, Pac-Man ghosts and other popular 8-bit characters, all taken from his favourite arcade games. Invader did not limit himself to the Parisian streets and his works have been sighted in 35 cities all over the world, from Los Angeles to Kathmandu.
