Suspense was hot this past spring that storied street artist Invader would stage some stunt for the Paris Summer Olympics. “It will be one invasion coming face-to-face with another,” the Associated Press wrote in March. The games have drawn millions of tourists to the anonymous superstar’s home turf, but Invader has been totally quiet, thwarting the hype—until now. On Wednesday, August 7, one of the artist’s iconic creatures appeared along the Seine.

“Invader told me to say that he wanted to celebrate the Olympics in Paris with this mosaic,” an anonymous representative for the artist told the AP yesterday. “The space invader is running and he wears some of the colors of the Olympics signage.”

Since 1998, Invader has scored a global fanbase by gluing cheeky little mosaics up all around the world, pioneering street art as a reputable genre in the process. He’s got some 4,000 artworks up on every continent but Antarctica, all cataloged in a mobile app called “Flash Invaders,” which functions like a scavenger hunt. More than 360,000 players have accounts where they photograph, or “flash,” Invader’s mosaics upon encountering them in the wild. His latest ode to the Olympics is already included there—and purportedly worth 50 points.

 

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Invader’s artworks most often depict aliens and intergalactic insects evocative of the vintage Space Invader video game for which he’s named. But, he also tiles dragons, astronauts, and scores of pop culture characters, all united by his distinct 8-bit style. In a 2022 interview with Artnet News, Invader explained that he researches his sites ahead of time to tailor each artwork to the local culture.

But, perhaps since Paris is his headquarters, Invader kept it simple in his ode to the Olympics. In fact, if a viewer six months or so into the future didn’t know the context, they might not even get the reference.

This summer, his illegal artworks have faced the typical string of vandalism. In June, the day after installing a tribute to Vivienne Westwood outside the site of her first boutique in Chelsea, London, Invader posted photos of crews removing the artworks. Weeks later, he warned his New York City-based fans that two thieves have been disassembling his mosaics, most likely with the intention to sell them, since they regularly fetch thousands at auctions and exhibitions.

So, while this tribute to the Paris games appears to be riding high, its real Olympic feat will be staying up.