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On 19 November 2015, the anonymous French street artist INVADER interrupted Stephen Colbert’s monologue without saying a single word.
Disguised and moving quietly through the darkness above the Late Show bandstand, the artist climbed the staircase overlooking the stage at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theatre and installed a custom ceramic mosaic directly onto the exposed brick wall. The work, later catalogued as INVADER NY_173, remained there for the next eleven years, silently watching over every broadcast.
For millions of viewers tuning into The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the piece existed in plain sight while remaining largely unnoticed. Rendered in INVADER’s instantly recognisable 8-bit visual language, the mosaic became an accidental fixture of late-night television history and perhaps the most-watched unauthorised street artwork ever created. Now, as The Late Show comes to an end, the work’s story is entering a final chapter.
The INVADER NY_173 Alias
The piece currently being sold is not the original mosaic installed inside the Ed Sullivan Theatre, but its official alias: INVADER NY_173 ALIAS.
Within INVADER’s practice, aliases hold a highly specific role. Since the late 1990s, the artist has operated according to a strict self-imposed system. For every street installation, INVADER creates exactly one authorised replica known as an alias. Produced using the same dimensions, materials, and hand-set ceramic tiles as the original intervention, the alias functions simultaneously as a duplicate and a singular artwork. No additional copies are ever produced.
For NY_173, no alias had previously existed. The original mosaic remained permanently tied to the architecture and identity of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert itself.
INVADER’s studio addressed the work’s future in a statement shared in February 2026:
“Invader is sad for both the show and the mosaic disappearing but considers that they are linked and that the mosaic shouldn’t survive the place he has installed it in.”
In keeping with INVADER’s own philosophy, the original work will not outlive its location. The original mosaic inside the theatre is therefore expected to disappear alongside the programme’s conclusion.
A Secret Artwork Hidden in Broadcast History
What makes NY_173 remarkable is not only its rarity, but its unusual relationship with visibility.
Unlike traditional public interventions placed across city walls and rooftops, this work existed within a television set viewed nightly by audiences across the United States and internationally. Millions saw the mosaic repeatedly for more than a decade without realising they were witnessing an active street art installation hidden within mainstream broadcast culture.
The intervention also reflects the broader logic of INVADER’s practice, which has transformed cities into sprawling interactive cartographies through his ongoing global “invasions”. Works have appeared across Paris, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Kathmandu, and dozens of other cities, with many catalogued through the artist’s Flash Invaders app, allowing audiences to locate and document installations as part of a worldwide urban treasure hunt.
Invader, Hong Kong. Photo © Invader
INVADER’s “invasions” have extended beyond Earth itself. In 2015, the artist installed SPACE2 inside the International Space Station, making it the first street artwork to enter orbit.
SPACE2 in the Columbus module of the ISS : Photo – ESA:NASA space invader
Auction Details
INVADER NY_173 ALIAS is currently being auctioned on eBay by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as part of its wider “Everything Must Go!” charity sale.
According to the listing, all proceeds from the auction will benefit World Central Kitchen, the humanitarian organisation founded by chef José Andrés.
The ebay auction is scheduled to close on Tuesday at 04:19 AM UK time. At the time of writing, bidding has reached US $39,200 (£29,900).
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