I Wish I’d Thought of That (8 Photos vol. 2)

Eight times artists treated the street like a toy box

A parking block becomes a crocodile, flowers pour from a giant paint tube, and Darth Vader spends the evening fishing. These eight street and public artworks show what happens when a playful idea takes over an everyday object.

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🌸 Matryoshka Cement Mixer

A cement mixer drum already has the rounded shape of a nesting doll. Someone painted it like one.

More: Rolling Art: Cement Trucks Turned into Giant Matryoshka Dolls

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🍪 Cookie Monster Bin — By Timm Schneider (Ich bin Kong) in Wiesbaden, Germany 🇩🇪

Two googly eyes and one perfectly placed cookie turn an ordinary blue street bin into a hungry Cookie Monster. It belongs to Timm Schneider’s They Live series of cartoon eyes, and the book Streetart in Germany places it in Wiesbaden.

More: The City Has Eyes (8 Photos)

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🎤 Singing Into the Cable — By Levalet in Paris, France 🇫🇷

Levalet pastes an ink-drawn man under an air-conditioning unit in Passage Dubail and gives him the unit’s real hose to hold to his mouth. The building’s hardware becomes part of the scene.

💡 Artist Fact: Levalet is the street name of Charles Leval, who was born in Épinal in 1988 and grew up in Guadeloupe. According to the Hôtel de Gallifet, he earned a teaching diploma in 2012, the same year his India-ink figures began appearing on the streets of Paris.

More: This Is Clever

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🐊 Crocodile in the Parking Lot — By Tom Bob in Dubai, UAE 🇦🇪

Tom Bob turned a wooden parking block into a bright green crocodile, painting legs and a tail on the ground beside it.

💡 Artist Fact: Tom Bob grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts, before moving to New York City to pursue an art career, and Boston 25 News reported in 2021 that he had started making street art about seven years earlier. He gets permission from building owners and the city before starting a project.

More: 33 Artworks by Creative Genius Tom Bob

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🌼 Marigold Paint Tube — Boulogne-sur-Mer, France 🇫🇷

An enormous orange tube appears to squeeze a thick ribbon of color onto the grass, except the “paint” is made from living marigolds. Photographer Steve Hughes came across the installation in a public park in Boulogne-sur-Mer, as Colossal reported in 2015, with a giant picture frame full of flowers nearby.

More: When the Street Became a Place to Play

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🎣 Darth Fisher — By Frankey in Amsterdam, the Netherlands 🇳🇱

Frankey gives the galaxy’s most intimidating villain a quiet evening beneath Amsterdam’s Torontobrug on the Amstel. He made the piece in 2021 for the tenth edition of the Amsterdam Light Festival. The glowing red fishing rod turns a lightsaber into the least threatening tool in the universe.

💡 Place Fact: The Torontobrug opened in 1969 as the Stadhoudersbrug and got its current name in 1974, when Toronto mayor David Crombie traveled to Amsterdam to mark the twin-city agreement between Toronto and Amsterdam.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsDarth FisherStreetart Frankey · 2021 · Torontobrug, AmsterdamLight sculptureAmsterdam Light Festival 10Shown in Berlin, 20221The festival says the bridge’s imposing late-1960s pillars reminded Frankey of Star Wars architecture, so Vader got a fishing rod instead of a lightsaber.Amsterdam Light Festival2After Amsterdam it travelled: in December 2023 it sat on a Georgetown rooftop in Washington, DC, with a wrapped present on its line.The Georgetowner202118 DecUnder the Torontobrug202223 JanAmsterdam run ends20227 OctEPA photo, Berlin202216 OctReuters photo, Berlin20234 DecOn show in Georgetown202313 DecAlamy photo · date takenRead the full file →

More: Darth Fisher by Frankey in Amsterdam

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📷 Photo by Janus van den Eijnden

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👣 The Invisible Man

A pair of flip-flops on a cloth-draped stool and a cardboard sign are all it takes to stage an invisible street performance. The tip box in front already has coins in it.

More: Made It Funny Again

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🧷 Corridor Pin, Blue — By Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen in San Francisco, USA 🇺🇸

A familiar safety pin becomes monumental, bright blue and strangely elegant. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco lists the work as Corridor Pin, Blue (1999), a stainless steel and aluminum sculpture installed outdoors at the de Young in Golden Gate Park.

💡 Size Fact: The Fine Arts Museums list the pin at 255 × 254 inches, about 21 feet tall and 21 feet wide.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsCorridor Pin, BlueClaes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen · 1999 · de Young, San Francisco255 × 254 × 16 in.Stainless steel & aluminumFine Arts Museums of SF1The museum’s credit line reads “Foundation purchase, gift of the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation”; accession number 2003.66a-b.Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco2According to the New Orleans Museum of Art, its own Corridor Pin, Blue is edition 3/3; San Francisco’s is not the only cast.New Orleans Museum of Art20092 AugRoadside America field report2015SepScene4 photo essay20229 JulVisitor tip, Roadside AmericaRead the full file →

More: Funny Sculptures With a Clever Twist