Paris Space Invaders

Walking the streets of Paris, there are countless times when I was would suddenly stopped midway through my track because of something peculiar staring at me. Yes I am referring to the street arts of Paris. One of them called The Space Invaders introduced by my cousin in London, is one of the frequent artist that leaves their trademark mosaic tiles around the high corners of Parisian corners and street walls. They are one of the well-know street artists that does other cities around Europe. They look like little robotic insects, in colorful two-toned squares. I managed to find some more over the weekend around the Bastille area.




Another one that I'm sure many of you living in Paris has probably seen is sort of a sticker of a dandy man with their italic signature of Leo et Pipo printed at the bottom of the sticker. I managed to find a blog about their interesting history. It says in the blog that these two individuals came to Paris in the beginning feeling like a complete strangers, in a pretty cold city filled with complete often equally cold people. They wrote as I am quoting from the blog, that growing up in the east suburbs of Paris filled with sweetness and the quietness of the suburbs, they are appaled by the alienated feeling of Paris, a city-museum (quote) with artificial everything. Which is true I suppose and I am sure most people feels that way the first time they arrive here.

So, to break the ice a bit, in March 2008 they started to stick these characters on the walls of Paris as a way of saying "Hey there, I'm new here, let's be friendly!" They hoped that people would notice and stare for a bit and continue walking. The blogger said that for him/her, the characters felt like friendly ghosts watching over the neighborhood. Which is somewhat true, they represent watchful eyes and for new comers, that Paris is filled with hidden treasures. Another blogger wrote that it for her the characters injects human warmth and charm to the city. I'm sure that everyone has their own interpretations, for me though, I just find them so curiously cuttteee....scattered away in places for me to find and snap away.

The yellow cat is also another street art that has transform itself to a museum exhibition at the Pompidou centre. He was caught red handed donning a mask, which was how he found his fame in the first place. I spotted this one over the weekend too, just a day after my cousin told me about the cat in Paris.