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The height restriction sign placed over the tile |
It’s high time these aliens were zapped!
Height restriction sign is placed over street tile art
ALIENS never win. Hollywood taught us that.
While Westminster Council’s interplanetary police force don’t have Will Smith in their ranks, they are putting up a strong fight against the swarm of space invaders metastasing across Soho. And by the looks of it they wont stop until it’s “Game Over”.
The first mosaic Martian man to be zapped down was mounted on the lintel of the building which spans the west end of Manette Street – now smothered by a road sign alerting motorists to the shallow road clearance.
Inspired by the 1970s arcade game Space Invaders, a retro classic among gamers, the extraterrestrial works by an anonymous Parisian artist have started a stampede among guerilla art fans to seek out the next work. Measuring just 20cm wide and the same height, they are easy to miss. There have been sightings in Frith Street, Charing Cross Road, Dean Street and Carlise Street.
So has the council’s graffiti team been inspired by the latest Star Trek movie? Or perhaps a starship mercenary is behind the search and destroy mission?
Well the council has owned up to the hit, claiming it has purposely centred the road sign over the artwork and is now setting about compiling a record of all tiled graffiti in the area.
Councillor Robert Davis, deputy leader of the council said: “The sign contains important information on the height restriction for vehicles and has purposely been placed over this piece of graffiti. If it were not for the sign we would be making moves to get this tiled graffiti removed anyway. If a so-called ‘artist’ wants to show their tiling work to the public the appropriate place to do that is either a gallery, or they can approach the council and apply for permission like everybody else.”
The artist goes by the rather unimaginative soubriquet “Space Invader”.
His works command otherworldly prices too, with some fetching as much as £10,000.
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