Invader "Top 10"
Jonathan LeVine Gallery
This event has ended.
Jonathan LeVine Gallery presents "Top 10," a solo exhibition of new works by the Parisian street artist known as Invader. Returning to the gallery for his first solo show in New York, "Top 10" marks a highly anticipated event for this internationally celebrated artist. Known for using mosaic tiles to re-create popular characters from vintage 8-bit video games (such as Space Invaders and Pac-Man) on the streets of cities around the world, the artist's individual mosaics are carefully cataloged after placement in context to their surrounding environment. Yet, since the project has grown on a global-scale, each piece also carries considerable significance from a larger perspective—populating what is now a worldwide installation that stretches across the planet. Invader's mosaics can be found on the streets of over 40 cities, on all five (inhabitable) continents. Like the game, his mission is literally an invasion of (public) space.
"Top 10" introduces a new series of original two and three-dimensional works featuring the artist’s signature pixel-based aesthetic, created in mediums such as mosaic tile and rubik’s cubes, which clearly translate the concept of pixilation (the division of visual information in digital format). Invader is the first artist to bring pixels to life, both in the physical world and in the art world. Echoing the neo-Impressionist painting technique of pointillism, with a contemporary voice, his evolved methods bring the composite image concept into the digital age. The show title "Top 10" references popular music, as the artist has selected what he believes are the top ten album covers of his generation as subjects for re-interpretation using his own innovative technique of Rubikcubism. The term Rubikcubism is used to describe an art movement of which Invader is believed to be the originator, using Rubik’s Cubes (a 3-D mechanical puzzle game popular in the 1980’s). This exhibition also includes large-scale mixed-media sculptures in bright primary colors and a video installation of projected time-lapse footage, which reveals the geometric complexity of the artist’s incredible process in creating pieces in this show.
Media
Schedule
from June 27, 2009 to July 25, 2009
Opening Reception on 2009-06-27 from 19:00 to 21:00
Artist(s)
Reviews
Although I have never been able to complete a rubik's cube, the Invader exhibition gave me some hope that my lack of mathematical skills may actually have some artistic merit. From a distance it feels like a familiar but contemporary Monet style painting but the closer I got , the more I wanted to go hang out at an arcade and play asteroids.
Playing video games and digging into a box of legos are childhood memories we can all relate to. But these pictures, like distant memories make more sense when we step back as an adult and reflect from a distance.