Can’t Stop Smiling (9 Photos)

May 26, 2026

By Vidar

Some street art just makes the day lighter 😊

A cartoon bursts through a wall, a cracked concrete sphere becomes a face, and a giant dog turns a building into a tribute. Here are 9 public art moments with warmth, wit, and a few surprises.

More: Made You Smile (12 Photos)

🌪️ 🇪🇸 Taz Attack: Nauni69 in Viator, Spain

Taz bursts through a bright pink wall in Viator, using the corner as a stage for an anamorphic 3D trick. The passerby completes the illusion. Cartoon chaos, painted with real depth.

💡 Nerd Fact: The cartoon Taz is pure chaos, but the real Tasmanian devil is an endangered marsupial and the world’s largest surviving carnivorous marsupial. The Australian Museum also notes that devils can roam up to 16 km (10 miles) at night searching for food — tiny tornado energy, but biology.

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🍎 🇺🇸 Sidewalk Friends: David Zinn in the U.S.

David Zinn finds a whole scene on one sidewalk slab. Two chalk creatures share apples beside the curb, with the chalk box right there. It fits Zinn’s larger world of ephemeral sidewalk chalk creatures: small, kind, and easy to miss if you walk too fast. More: Beautiful Autumn By David Zinn! (9 Photos)

💡 Nerd Fact: Zinn’s creatures are not one-offs. His official artist bio names Sluggo, Philomena, and Nadine as recurring characters in a sidewalk “menagerie,” meaning many of these tiny chalk scenes belong to a bigger underfoot universe.

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👀 🇧🇬 Googly-Eyed Sidewalk Monster: Vanyu Krastev in Bulgaria

A cracked concrete sphere gets two googly eyes and instantly becomes a sidewalk monster. It fits Vanyu Krastev’s Eyebombing Bulgaria project: ordinary, broken city surfaces made playful with one tiny intervention. That is the whole joke — and it works. More: Googly-Eyed Art (17 Photos)

💡 Brain Fact: Googly eyes work because your brain is desperate to find faces. Scientific American uses Krastev’s eyebombing as an example of pareidolia: face-detection circuits turning cracks, stains, and odd urban shapes into characters.

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🐶 🇧🇷 A Tribute to Olivia: Clara Leff in São Paulo, Brazil

A huge portrait of Olivia fills the wall at R. Cipriano Jucá 61 in Vila Madalena, painted with Colorgin Arte Urbana for Vet Domus Hospital Veterinário. Clara Leff’s post about the mural calls it a tribute to Olivia, her life partner. The yellow circle, soft fur, and tiny model at street level make the wall feel personal. More photos and story: A tribute to my Olivia, partner of my life

💡 City Fact: Vila Madalena already has deep street-art history. São Paulo’s city government says Beco do Batman became a graffiti destination after a Batman drawing appeared there in the 1980s, and that the walls are renewed by artists and conserved by the community. Olivia’s wall lives in that same open-air-gallery ecosystem.

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🐕 🇩🇪 Omar and Megatatze: AKUT in Berlin, Germany

This is more than a warm picture of a man and his dog sharing a giant laugh in Berlin. Caritas Berlin documents the mural as a memorial to Omar and his dog Megatatze on the facade of the Zentrale Beratungsstelle für Menschen in Wohnungsnot at Levetzowstraße 12a. Based on a photograph by Debora Ruppert and painted by AKUT, it makes someone too often overlooked impossible to miss.

💡 Human Fact: Caritas Berlin records that Omar lived more than 30 years on the street and once said his wish was world peace. That detail turns the mural from a warm dog image into a public act of memory.

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🐰 🇷🇺 Hares During a Flood: E. G. Kuznetsov in St. Petersburg, Russia

A toddler steps into the rabbit rescue scene and hugs the smallest hare. The sculpture group is documented in Russian as “Hares During a Flood” by E. G. Kuznetsov, installed in 2015 at the Peter and Paul Fortress. Fair enough: the little bunny did look like it needed help. More: Playing With Statues (9 Photos)

💡 Folklore Fact: The fortress stands on Zayachy Ostrov, or “Hare Island.” A local St. Petersburg legend says a hare escaped a flood by jumping onto Peter the Great’s boot, which is why hares around the fortress carry more local meaning than just “cute animal.” Petersburg24 tells the legend here.

🐈 🇳🇿 Rustle in Feilding: SwiftMantis in New Zealand

Rustle in Feilding turns the wall at 32 Bowen Street into a giant cat ledge. SwiftMantis says Rustle traveled from London to Feilding during the pandemic to be reunited with his mum, Sophie, which makes the stare feel less suspicious and more like a homecoming. More photos: ‘Rustle in Feilding’ – Cat mural by SWIFTMANTIS

💡 Cat Fact: Rustle is part of a much larger cat trail. SwiftMantis’s own bio says his fur textures have become a specialty, with realistic cat portraits painted across New Zealand from Whangarei to Invercargill.

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🕯️ 🇬🇧 Salty Sea-Dog: Elle Koziupa in Newquay, UK

Elle Koziupa’s post identifies this Newquay mural as Salty Sea-dog, and the piece also appears in her portfolio. An old fisherman mends his net by candlelight across the side of a building. Warm hands, pipe, candle glow, and a whole street slowed down for a minute.

💡 Process Fact: This mural wasn’t painted from a random stock image. Visit Newquay says Slapdash Studio staged a reference photoshoot at the old Fly Cellars, using period props, so Koziupa could connect the scene to Newquay’s historic fishing industry.

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🌸 🇨🇴 Flower Power: Lina Besedina in Medellín, Colombia

Painted for Surreal Street Art Fest at Cl. 38 #92-55, Belencito, this mural by Lina Besedina was also shared by the artist. Photo credit: Kozte. A woman rests across a wall full of orange flowers, with blue hills behind her. The road beside it makes the scale clear. Medellín gets a whole garden in one wall.

💡 Medellín Fact: Medellín’s official tourism guide describes Comuna 13’s Graffitour as an immersive route through social transformation, where murals carry stories of resilience and hope. That context matters here: in Medellín, walls often work as public storytelling spaces, not just decoration.

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