Critical Review
Cote d'Azur is a signed screen print in colours produced in 2007 by the renowned French street artist Invader. Coming in a limited edition size of 50, the print shows a map of the Cote d'Azur which is located on the Mediterranean coast of southeastern France. The composition is dominated by yellow and blue and is rendered using the 8-bit visual register of arcade games which reflects Invader’s obsession with gaming.
Cote d’Azur is part of Invader’s Maps collection which features a variety of maps that Invader produced alongside his iconic installation project: ‘The Space Invaders Project’. The project was started by Invader in 1998 and involves the artist going to bustling cities all over the world and installing mosaics of the alien character from the popular arcade game, Space Invaders, onto street walls. The project which continues to expand in scale has come to be recognised as one of the greatest street art stunts in art history and Invader has ‘invaded’ 79 cities in 33 countries across the globe.
To keep track of his early ‘invasion waves’, Invader produced maps which detailed where the installations could be found. Now, Invader prefers to use an online database which stores this information, meaning that these original maps are rare and highly sought after on the art market.
