Iconic street art

Toaster
• Three people, One Toaster image, Everywhere. Since 1999,
before the term 'Street Art' existed, three people have placed
their Toaster image all over the world. On stickers, posters,
using stencils and on banners the image has appeared on
streets, at music festivals, in sports stadiums and on museum
walls. 22 years on from it's conception, the 'project' continues
with the Toaster being placed both in it's purest form and in
various abstracted states.
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Invader
• Who are you Invader? Where do you come from?
• I define myself as an UFA, an Unidentified Free Artist. I chose Invader as my pseudonym and I always appear behind a mask. As
such, I can visit my own exhibitions without any visitors knowing who I really am even if I stand a few steps away from them.
Since 1998, I have developed a large scale project, code name: Space Invaders.
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• What is the Space Invaders project about?
• It is first of all about liberating Art from its usual alienators that museums or institutions can be. But it is also about freeing the
Space Invaders from their video games TV screens and to bring them in our physical world. Everything started the day I decided to
give a material appearance to pixelization through ceramic tiles. I first wanted to create a series of "canvases" but I soon realised
that tiles were the perfect material to display these pieces directly on the walls. I then had the idea of deploying my creatures on
the walls of Paris and soon after in cities around the globe. Each of these unique pieces become the fragment of a tentacular
installation.
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• What is your invasion strategy? What are the rules of the game?
• Little by little, I organised a detailed process by which I explore international densely populated urban areas and "invade" them.
Usually, I try to display 20 to 50 pieces per city, which is already a good score. Sometimes I happen to return several times in the
same city, deploying different “invasion waves” as I like to call them. The goal is to increase my score by continuously and
restlessly invading new spaces. "Anytime, Anywhere" is the philosophy…I try to evolve and reinvent myself at all time while
leading a precise and serious aesthetic invasion project.
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• INVASION POTOSI / MISSION 4000 (youtube.com)
Rats! Banksy and Blek Le Rat
“Every time I think I’ve painted something slightly original, I find out that Blek Le Rat has done it as well. Only
twenty years earlier.”
Banksy
Banksy’s use of the ‘rat’ anagram is particularly clever and fitting. The rat is ubiquitous in urban
environments, and Banksy’s use of it in his art highlights the decay and grittiness of urban life. By using
the ‘rat’ anagram, Banksy also makes a statement about the nature of art itself. Like the rat, his art can be
found in unexpected places and thrive even in the most unlikely environments.

Banksy’s rat is a poignant symbol that reflects the life of graffiti artists in many ways. Just like the rat,
graffiti artists exist without permission and are constantly on the run, fearing the wrath of city councils
who hunt them down and eradicate their work. In the eyes of many, they are nothing more than pests, a
nuisance to be dealt with rather than respected for their art. As Banksy himself said, rats …

“They exist without permission. They are hated, hunted, and persecuted. They live in quiet desperation amongst
the filth. And yet they are capable of bringing entire civilizations to their knees.” Banksy

Like rats, Banksy must navigate the city’s underbelly in order to create his art.