Graffiti artist Invader back in Hong Kong, and this time he's invited

The last time the anonymous French street artist known only as "Invader" was in Hong Kong, in early 2014, he placed more than 35 of his little tiled images of video game characters (as well as Bruce Lee and Hong Kong Phooey) on public walls all round the city. Every single one of them was removed and destroyed by the government.

This time Invader is returning as a guest of the French consulate, as part of Le French May, and if he is planning any unsolicited invasions onto Hong Kong walls while he's here, he's not saying a word. "I'm sad and affected by this big 'wipe out'," he says in an email interview.

However, rather than being set back by it he has decided to let it inspire him instead. In fact it is the main theme of his upcoming Hong Kong show, which is co-organised by the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Foundation and will run at PMQ between May 2 and 17.

"This show, called 'Wipe Out' is going to be amazing," he promises.

He's been working on it for a full year. It will include photos and a map of his 2014 "invasion" of Hong Kong, as well as documentation of what it looked like after the pieces were ripped off the walls. There will also be some new works linked with the subject, and a book, the Invasion guide, with the story of his work in Hong Kong.

Invader (whose real identity remains a secret) was a boy when Space Invaders machines started appearing in bars in France in the late 1970s and early '80s. "It was cool," he recalls. "I particularly loved the minimalism of the sounds and their hypnotic repetition, going faster and faster during each wave of the game."

This simple soundscape, which characterised the stolen free time of a whole '60s-born generation, was the audio equivalent to the pixel — the basic unit of digital pictures.

However, he has never been obsessed with playing video games, he says: "I chose this game as a symbol of the rise of the digital time in which we live now."

For him it is "a great evolution in human history which can make the world better or darker depending on what we do with it."

Pixels are Invader's thing (he never did graffiti or tags). Sometimes his work is removed, as in Hong Kong, by the authorities. But now that his work is getting more valuable — a replica of the life-sized Hong Kong Phooey mosaic that was removed and destroyed by this city's government, sold for HK$1.96 million in Sotheby's here in January — it is increasingly removed by people wanting to cash in and sell it.

"I always thought I was safe from street art thieves," he says. "Because one, my street pieces are not signed and if you took one from the street you will only get some tiles with no value because nothing can prove that it is mine. And two, the tiles are fragile and you will break most of them."

He had seen some copies of his pieces on ebay, with tiles that people had broken to make them look authentic. "This is sad for the piece which does not exist any more and for the buyer who is buying a mosaic with no value. And anyway, for anyone who wants an Invader-style original there's a much cheaper alternative," he says.

"The mosaics I am creating are made with basic tiles that you can buy in any tile shop for a few dollars. If you want a space invader mosaic for yourself, buy some tiles and DIY; it will look like one of mine."

PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central, May 2-17, space-invaders.com