Invader’s Rubikcubism series, initiated in 2005, is one of the most defining and conceptually coherent strands of his practice. Working exclusively with the six standard colors and grid logic of the Rubik’s Cube, Invader reinterprets iconic images through a pixel-based system that draws equally from early digital graphics, modernist abstraction, and art-historical portraiture.
Rubik Shot Red Marilyn (NVDR1-4) revisits one of the most reproduced faces in 20th-century visual culture. Translating the instantly recognizable image of Marilyn Monroe into Rubikcubist form, Invader subjects pop iconography to the same constraints and disruptions that govern his street mosaics. At close range, the image dissolves into a field of colored units; from a distance, the portrait resolves with striking clarity. This oscillation between abstraction and legibility underscores Invader’s sustained investigation into perception, resolution, and collective memory.
By filtering a Warhol-era symbol of mass media through the logic of a game object and a street-art vocabulary, Rubik Shot Red Marilyn becomes a layered meditation on reproduction, celebrity, and image saturation. The vivid red ground intensifies the optical vibration of the composition, amplifying both its graphic impact and its cultural charge.
Produced by HENI Editions, the work translates the physicality of Rubik’s Cube assemblages into a high-gloss, Diasec-mounted format that enhances color depth and surface precision. Each example is hand-signed and numbered on the publisher’s label affixed to the reverse, affirming its status as an official studio edition rather than a reproduction.
As part of Invader’s ongoing dialogue between street interventions and editioned artworks, Rubik Shot Red Marilyn stands as a contemporary reimagining of pop portraiture, where digital nostalgia, urban art, and art history converge.
