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

    Creatively Painted Manhole Cover

    (Check out our complete collection of 100+ Works of Creative and Geeky Art and Graffiti.)

    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.

    Previously: Unusually Legal Street Art

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    32 Comments

    • Gerri
      November 29th, 2007 at 11:23 pm

      These are all so unique and pretty. Love it!

    • phil
      November 30th, 2007 at 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!

    • Anonymous
      November 30th, 2007 at 6:51 am

      http://www.flickr.com/photos/s.....458813225/

      in brazil, sao paulo.

    • Derrick
      November 30th, 2007 at 6:52 am

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

    • Jim
      November 30th, 2007 at 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.

    • Zombie kid
      November 30th, 2007 at 7:22 am

      I like turtles

    • lamib
      November 30th, 2007 at 7:26 am

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

    • Anon
      November 30th, 2007 at 7:59 am

      Love the bookshelves!

    • Dickard
      November 30th, 2007 at 8:21 am

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

    • Rose
      November 30th, 2007 at 8:35 am

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

    • PaulGuise
      November 30th, 2007 at 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

    • Anony
      November 30th, 2007 at 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

    • Puraz
      November 30th, 2007 at 10:04 am

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

    • Gelay
      November 30th, 2007 at 11:30 am

      Nice!!! You have given me some ideas.

    • Kango Kirkwood Vacationer
      November 30th, 2007 at 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 ;)

    • Bruce A
      November 30th, 2007 at 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.

    • dustinsoftware
      November 30th, 2007 at 12:46 pm

      love the aquarium one

    • Anon
      November 30th, 2007 at 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!

    • NewLife
      November 30th, 2007 at 4:38 pm

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

    • Antonia Short
      November 30th, 2007 at 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 !

    • faraz
      December 3rd, 2007 at 3:23 am

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

    • Shirlster
      December 17th, 2007 at 4:06 pm

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

    • Kurt S
      September 26th, 2008 at 10:05 am

      I think we need more of this in all our cities. I agree with phil, I think it would definitely contribute to the atmosphere of the cities….or at least make them less ugly.

    • Mnesomeye
      February 22nd, 2009 at 10:24 am

      These are brilliant. Wish I’d done the bookshelf…

    What do you think? Leave a comment!





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