Painting the Town in Vivid Colors: 3 (More) Types of Unusually Legal Urban Street Art

Creatively Painted Manhole Cover

Does illegal street art amuse or annoy you? Graffiti on walls is appealing to some and an eyesore to others, but it is hard to find legal art on the street like this to be anything but impressive. Here are three examples of strangely legal urban street art from artistic Japanese manhole covers and creatively painted American circuit boxes to downright bizarre Russian street lamps.

Creatively Painted Manhole Covers

Manhole Cover Art: in most cities you probably don’t notice the presence of manholes in the cacophony of visual noise that surrounds you, making these painted and embossed Japanese versions a vivid exception. However, there are creative manhole covers all around the world, though some are more subtle than others, many of which are collected here.

Circuit Box Street Art

Circuit Box Art

Circuit Box Art: circuit boxes are ubiquitous in most urban settings, an object in the way and often an eyesore. Instead of leaving them plain and grey, why not paint them with vibrant colors to shock or amuse passers by? From a distance you can be sure that some people are fooled by the clever illusions illustrated in these images.

Creative Street Lamp Art

Creative Street Lamp Zodiac Art

Lamp Post Art: lamp posts are another inevitability of urban living. In many cities some lights are at least given an elegant flare and some elemental decoration, but these Russian examples take things to another letter. The four shown here are just one part of a larger collection that plays on (though humorously twists) the classic signs of the zodiac. Click here for even more unusually legal street art.

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Posted by Urbanist November 29th, 2007
Graffiti, Street Art, Urban, Urban Art, Urban Images
Comments: 26

Comments

Comment from Gerri
Time: November 29, 2007, 11:23 pm

These are all so unique and pretty. Love it!

Comment from phil
Time: November 30, 2007, 12:44 am

Hey. I like your collection of art. I think that pieces like that, being so unique and beautiful, can contribute to a cities atmosphere. I’d love to see more of these in Vienna!

Comment from Anonymous
Time: November 30, 2007, 6:51 am

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sao/sets/72157601458813225/

in brazil, sao paulo.

Comment from Derrick
Time: November 30, 2007, 6:52 am

Wow. Wonder if they are going to paint on post boxes next.

Comment from Jim
Time: November 30, 2007, 7:17 am

Are you sure that those are all “illegal”? I think at least some of them, especially the lamp posts, must have been commissioned.

Comment from Zombie kid
Time: November 30, 2007, 7:22 am

I like turtles

Comment from lamib
Time: November 30, 2007, 7:26 am

Haha, that’s really amusing. I wish Finland would have art like that on the streets!

Comment from Anon
Time: November 30, 2007, 7:59 am

Love the bookshelves!

Comment from Dickard
Time: November 30, 2007, 8:21 am

The manhole covers are simply amazing and a good example of modifying utilitarian items into beautiful works.

Comment from Rose
Time: November 30, 2007, 8:35 am

Really good stuff and a big plus for the communities. Wish there was more like it around.

Comment from PaulGuise
Time: November 30, 2007, 9:30 am

Nice stuff. These are all really interesting but my fav is the street lamps. The fish round the table really would be freaky to see come dark.
Cheers

Comment from Anony
Time: November 30, 2007, 9:38 am

ammazing
keep up the great work
in Palestine where i live, it’s mostly political,and the dreams of the
banned refugees and rebels

Comment from Puraz
Time: November 30, 2007, 10:04 am

Really awesome work… Love the aquarium and bookshelf; that’s some amazing tallent.

Comment from Gelay
Time: November 30, 2007, 11:30 am

Nice!!! You have given me some ideas.

Comment from Kango Kirkwood Vacationer
Time: November 30, 2007, 12:00 pm

I really like the fishtank dresser I bet that if i brought something like that home my wife would fall in love with it :) how do you find these fantastic images anyways? I hope it involves traveling around the world looking for them ;)

Comment from Bruce A
Time: November 30, 2007, 12:10 pm

How is it strange that this is legal? In Japan manhole covers are almost always decorated as a matter of civic pride.

Comment from dustinsoftware
Time: November 30, 2007, 12:46 pm

love the aquarium one

Comment from Anon
Time: November 30, 2007, 1:21 pm

beautiful! The lamp post pictures weren’t exactly less of an eye-sore, but I do like the artwork made on the man-holes and the circuit boxes (maybe because they’re more colorful?).

Nice finds!

Comment from NewLife
Time: November 30, 2007, 4:38 pm

Beautiful collection of artwork. A fine example of tax dollars well spent.

Comment from Antonia Short
Time: November 30, 2007, 9:47 pm

Great art.
I like the funny book-storage that is painted on the access to the electric grid.

Thank you for sharing this great fun with me !

Comment from faraz
Time: December 3, 2007, 3:23 am

HOW WONDERFUL WOULD IT BE TO SEE ART LIKE THAT ALL AROUND LONDON….WOULD MAKE THIS SHIT-HOLE WELL AMAZING!!

Comment from Shirlster
Time: December 17, 2007, 4:06 pm

Those circuit boxes are actually Israeli, not American. Thought I would clear that up. Represent