Street artist In the Woup, from old Marios to urban mosaics

The self-taught mosaic artist, who does not want to be known by anything other than his pseudonym, grew up with the red-capped character, whose video game "Super Mario Bros." is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

For 15 years, he has been revisiting the pixelated universe of this "icon" recognizable "everywhere", disseminating his creations to the four corners of French cities but also to Mexico, India, Kazakhstan...

"What if Mario had other costumes, what might he look like?" asks In The Whoup, his face hidden behind a mask of the Italian plumber to maintain his anonymity.

Mona Lisa, pirate Redbeard from the Asterix comic strip, rapper Orelsan and even Karl Lagerfeld...: the father of the family has already invented the pixelated version of 500 characters "from manga, comics, video games, cinema, current events".

And subtly slipped half of them into the urban landscape, reminding passersby of the nostalgia of the first Mario video games, "Proust's Madeleine" of this artist born five years after the first appearance on screen, in 1981, of the character then called "Jumpman".

"Finding parts of my game console in the street meant being able to bring immaterial things into reality," explains the man who, as a child, fought over the controller with his brother.

In total, 224 of his works adorn the corners of 56 cities and 12 countries, he proudly details.

"Wherever I travel, I always take mosaics with me," explains the thirty-year-old, who has a main job - which he declined to specify - alongside his art.

And when the Lyon native isn't packing his colorful tiles in his suitcase, he sells his works for "several thousand euros." He also collaborates with municipalities and recently exhibited his work at the Urban Art Fair, the first international fair dedicated to urban art.

"Open-air galleries"

His recipe, a clever mix of 16-bit technology, used from "Super Mario World" in the 1990s - and therefore very pixelated - and the world of "Franco-Belgian comics, American comics, manga and video games", lists the artist.

"In my eyes, the two worlds have to be perfectly blended," explains In The Woup in the middle of his studio, a cramped room in his home where Briare enamels, the main mosaic he uses, are piled up.

After imagining his pattern using his stylus on a tablet, he transposes the image by meticulously aligning the colored tiles, thus moving from "pixel artist" to "mosaicist".

In the spotlight this time is Bob Sinclar, a DJ he "likes a lot," or rather his character, with a beard, headphones in his ears, and hands on the decks.

After a few strokes of glue swept across the back of the work on the ground of a Lyon street and a careful installation at the end of a ladder, the figure adorns the black front of a store belonging to the music label UML records.

The decor is, as always, carefully chosen. Without asking the owners' prior approval, however, because In the Woup is "not the type to prepare too much in advance."

"Generally, they say yes," because "people like street art and mosaics," which transform the streets into "open-air galleries," he says. And appeal to all generations.

Jacqueline Fendler, 85, came down from her apartment to admire the new mosaic after seeing it from her window. She called it "amazing" and rushed to take a photo with the artist, who put his Mario mask back on to hide his face.

"Lots of different people write to me," he notes. "Mario, everyone has played it, whether you're broke or you're loaded, that's what's great."