Most Loved (9 Photos vol. 7)

A stone giant, a painted snake and a very small pep talk

These nine works combine monumental sculpture and painted illusions with small jokes tucked into everyday surroundings.

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🕊️ Freedom — By Zenos Frudakis in Philadelphia, USA 🇺🇸

Frudakis shows the same person in four stages, from confinement in a bronze wall to standing free with both arms open. The sculpture stands at 16th and Vine Streets in Philadelphia.

💡 Nerd Fact: Frudakis marked an empty space with the words “stand here,” inviting visitors to step into the sculpture. He also encoded his birth date in cast coins: three groups worth 7, 7 and 51 cents represent July 7, 1951.

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⛰️ Apennine Colossus — By Giambologna in Pratolino, Italy 🇮🇹

Giambologna’s giant crouches beside a pond in the Medici park at Pratolino. Its rough surface, hanging beard and surrounding vegetation make the figure seem to grow out of the hillside. The park entrance is at Via Fiorentina 276 in Pratolino.

💡 Nerd Fact: Built from masonry covered with plaster and stone, the giant has rooms inside. Its historic grottoes contained frescoes and water effects; a chamber below housed the Fountain of Narcissus and moving figures powered by water.

More: The Apennine Colossus

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🐍 Serpent — By Braga Last1 in Puteaux, France 🇫🇷

A giant snake appears to thread through a wall as a person reaches toward its head. Braga Last1 created the 8-by-5-meter Serpent for Puteaux’s 2021 Graffic Art Festival, whose theme was the animal world. This temporary work was painted on transparent film at 4 Rue Marcelin Berthelot.

💡 Nerd Fact: Braga Last1 trained in sign painting and airbrushing before beginning his street art career. Under the earlier name Q.ter, he customized T-shirts, shoes and caps.

More: Art by Braga Last1

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🐟 Koi Staircase — Ihwa Mural Village, Seoul, South Korea 🇰🇷

Orange, yellow and white koi swim across a staircase painted blue. This is a historic photograph of Ihwa Mural Village: the fish mural was painted over in April 2016, following disputes over tourism in the residential neighborhood.

💡 Nerd Fact: Ihwa became a mural village through the 2006 Naksan Project, which brought together artists, university students and volunteers. A study of the project records 70 artworks completed by the end of that year.

More: The Koi Staircase at Ihwa Mural Village

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🧜 The Fabulous Tale of Being Different — By Case Maclaim in Madrid, Spain 🇪🇸

A child in a golden wheelchair wears a homemade mermaid costume. Created for Urvanity in 2021, the mural was painted at Pasaje de la Caja de Ahorros in central Madrid. Case Maclaim imagined the lead character of an unwritten fairy tale, inviting children to make up the story for themselves.

💡 Nerd Fact: Case Maclaim holds a diploma in Art Restoration and Conservation from Erfurt University of Applied Sciences. He is also a founding member of the Ma’Claim Crew.

More: The Fabulous Tale of Being Different

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☔ Parasol Bench — By Art Metal

A streetlamp stretches out two arms to hold an umbrella over a wooden bench. The design is listed in Art Metal’s catalog as LA4/ST3/Parasol.

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🌿 Makeover — By Tom Bob in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

Tom Bob painted two wide eyes and a pink-cheeked smile on a garden rock. The grass growing behind it forms the hair; he called the piece “Makeover.”

💡 Nerd Fact: Tom Bob initially worked as a studio artist. In a 2025 interview, he said Banksy’s conceptual approach influenced his move into street art.

More: Street Art by Tom Bob

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🌱 Sibling Pep Talk — By David Zinn 🇺🇸

In David Zinn’s “Sibling Pep Talk,” a green chalk character gestures toward a tiny sprout drawn beside a crack in the stone. A real plant with purple flowers forms the character’s unruly hair.

💡 Nerd Fact: Zinn improvises his temporary drawings on location, using chalk, charcoal and found objects. His earlier commercial career lasted more than twenty years and included theatrical posters, educational cartoons, landfill murals and hand-painted dump trucks.

More: Street Art by David Zinn

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😴 La Dormeuse (2016 Version) — By Made in Graffiti in Mers-les-Bains, France 🇫🇷

A sleeping child and teddy bear turn a wartime blockhouse into a bed beneath the grass. This photograph shows Made in Graffiti’s La Dormeuse from 2016; the artist replaced the faded image with a grown-up version in 2024.

💡 Nerd Fact: Before becoming a full-time artist, Johann Grenier worked in a factory and used his wages to buy spray paint. In an interview reproduced by Mers-les-Bains town hall, he recalled that colleagues began commissioning his graffiti, helping him turn the work into a profession.

More: La Dormeuse in Mers-les-Bains

🔗 Follow Made in Graffiti (Johann Grenier) on Instagram

📷 Photo by Marko “76”.