Once I realized that not every little mosaic alien on a Paris wall was an Invader, I discovered an entirely new game: learning to recognize the artists by their visual signatures.
Here is my quick field guide for my next Paris walk.
Invader: Look for the Pixels
The best-known name is, of course, Invader. Since beginning his Paris project in 1998, the anonymous French artist has installed ceramic mosaics inspired by the pixelated graphics of early video games, especially the 1978 Space Invaders arcade game.
Look for: pixelated aliens, video-game characters and increasingly elaborate images constructed from square tiles.
Website: Invader’s official site is Space Invaders.
Morèje: The Mosaic Pioneer
Morèje, or Jérôme Gulon, is particularly important historically. He began incorporating mosaics into urban art in the 1980s, before Invader’s project began.
His small mosaics are often designed to interact with their surroundings and may incorporate portraits, photographs, text and other materials.
Look for: more traditional tesserae, portraits and compositions that respond to the history or character of their location.
Website: Morèje’s official website.
Mr Djoul: Look Closely at the Aliens
Mr Djoul is where identification gets tricky. He also creates little mosaic aliens, but they belong to his own visual vocabulary.
Look for: small humanoid aliens, often with particularly noticeable eyes. If it looks vaguely like an Invader but something seems different, it is worth investigating before assigning the work to Invader.
I have not found a personal website for Mr Djoul that I can confidently verify as official, so I would rather not give him an incorrect one.
A2: Hearts, Love and Anarchy
Once you learn the symbol of A2, the work becomes much easier to recognize.
A2 means A²: Amour et Anarchie, or Love and Anarchy. The anonymous Parisian artist repeatedly uses a heart containing the anarchist A and also creates imagery associated with figures such as Louise Michel and Emma Goldman.
Look for: hearts, the anarchist A, Louise Michel, Emma Goldman and the character Barbanar.
Website: A2 Street Art. There is also an excellent illustrated interview with the artist at Zinc Paris.
MifaMosa: Look at the Street Name
MifaMosa turns finding street art into a word game.
The artist creates mosaics inspired by the names of the streets where they are installed. That means the artwork and the street sign often need to be read together before the joke reveals itself.
Look for: a mosaic that seems to illustrate, reinterpret or make a visual pun from the street’s name.
Stork: Look for the Birds
This one is considerably easier.
Stork places mosaic storks around the city.
Look for: the unmistakable long-legged silhouette of a stork. Some installations become even more interesting when their locations are considered collectively, turning individual mosaics into part of a larger geographical composition.
Solrac: Look to the Stars
Solrac took the idea in another direction, installing blue mosaics representing constellations.
Look for: predominantly blue compositions based on stars and constellations.
Instead of invading Paris with creatures, Solrac effectively scattered pieces of the night sky across it.
Ememem: Look Down!
Not all Paris mosaics are on walls.
Ememem repairs cracks, holes and scars in pavement with brilliantly colored ceramic mosaics. The artist calls the technique flacking.
I love the idea. A damaged piece of the city isn’t disguised. Instead, the scar becomes the artwork.
Look for: colorful mosaics fitted directly into broken pavement and masonry.
Website: Ememem’s official website.
IPDO: Look for Familiar Characters
I Pixel di Oplontis, generally abbreviated IPDO, is another name worth remembering. The artists have used recognizable popular-culture imagery, including characters inspired by the Smurfs.
Look for: colorful pixel characters and the initials IPDO.
Zigom.art: Check the Tiles
Zigom.art creates colorful pixel and mosaic characters that can also make you stop and wonder whether you have discovered an Invader.
Look more closely. One identifying feature associated with Zigom is the use of rounded tiles and a separate hexagonal tile as a signature.
And that is becoming my favorite part of this discovery.
I used to walk through Paris looking for Invaders.
Next time, I will be looking for mosaics.
An alien might be Invader or Mr Djoul. A heart might lead me to A2. A bird could reveal Stork. A peculiar picture might suddenly make sense when I read the street sign and realize I have found MifaMosa. And if I spend all my time looking up at the walls, I could walk straight over an Ememem without ever noticing it.
Paris has turned into an enormous open-air mosaic gallery.
The trick is learning where to look.
Up at the walls. Down at the pavement. Around the corner. And always at the street sign.
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