Space Invaders

March 30, 2009

On Clipper.  Looks like he got the gun and bunker in Noe Valley (perhaps the old Nike Missile site on Mount Sutro?)

space invaders tiles

(Sorry if I am confusing this with an octopus or some other 8-bit cepholopod.)

Space Invaders Trivia from www.spaceinvaders.de – these are memed on just about every SI site I see, but fun nonetheless.

The game was so amazingly popular in Japan that it caused a coin shortage until the country’s Yen supply was quadrupled. Many incidents of juvenile crime surrounded the release of this game. A girl was caught stealing $5000 from her parents and gangs of youths were reported to have robbed grocery stores just so they would have money to play the game.

And then there’s Space Invaders the street artist, with elegant tile SI mosaics.

Interview from Swindle Magazine, via Kumo.

It wasn’t until I traveled to Paris that the full scope and scale of Invader’s work hit me. He started his project in Paris in 1996, and most of his 589-plus installations there remain. Everywhere I went, there were invaders, either jumping or peeking out. Some older, lower mosaics were partially removed, not by building owners but by fans hoping to collect a piece; to combat this problem, Invader devised an elaborate hanging system to place the invaders out of reach.

He’s has exhibits and public installations now — I love this one in Vienna.  Click the image for more pix.

I’d take SI art on any wall in the neighborhood.  Let’s get at it, Mission taggers — any bitch can spray paint, now’s the time to show some skillz and lay down some nice Murano tile and grout.

UPDATE: Reader Lauren notes this guy in Paris:

Screen shot 2009-09-06 at 3.14.43 PM

Or, if you’re feeling the need to redecorate the inside of your place, why not get Space Invaders decals from Blik?

si

For old time’s sake — insert ¥50 to play:

space invaders


I Know Which Way The Wind Blogs

March 9, 2009

360 panorama of Mission @ Clarion Alley. 10,000 pixels wide, click to zoom.

clarion alley

Slices:

clarion1 clarion3 clarion21


Russian Street Art

January 28, 2009

From St. Petersburg.  No Girafa, but some good stuff here.

Space Frogs (but not quite PlanTrees).  StalinFrog on the right is giving quite the speech. I like how the middle one is calmly carrying his red attaché while slowly edging away.

Whatever document StrideFrog is carrying to AttacheFrog, he gets a thumbs up.

Took me a second:

I fucking love Putin?
I love to hate Putin?
I love fucking Putin?

Billboards + Tags = Improvement

December 7, 2008

Nice layering of colors, Shenge. (Or Shence? Your strange letters frighten yet attract me.) “Silence”.

51% true (though not entirely fair to Oakland since they voted against Prop 8 and Alameda County has joined the lawsuit.)