Only in America (14 Photos)

October 14, 2026

By Vidar

Art That Could Only Happen in America

In New Bedford, two gas meters turned into lobsters. In Atlanta, a giant alligator lies belly-up under an old hotel sign, and in Seattle two daddy longlegs cross a roof that only makes sense from the Space Needle. Fourteen American works, from Lincoln in kaleidoscope colors to kids swimming up a building in Lynn.

More: American Street Art (12 Photos)

🍬 “Emoji Dispenser” — By Leon Keer in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA 🇺🇸

A parking deck turned into a gum machine the size of a building, filled with emoji faces instead of gum, with painted cardboard boxes stacked around the corner. The City of Fayetteville calls it a comment on how emotions have become things we buy; Keer painted it on the Town Center deck in summer 2025.

💡 Gum Fact: In 1888 Thomas Adams put the first Tutti-Frutti gum machines along New York City’s elevated train lines: a penny in, a turn, a piece of gum out.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsEmoji DispenserLeon Keer · 2025 · Downtown FayettevilleTown Center parking deckCity commissionAnamorphic 3D mural1The City of Fayetteville calls it a playful yet unsettling reflection on how emotions themselves have become commodities.City of Fayetteville2KNWA reported Keer’s two finished downtown deck murals on 23 August 2025, both in his 3D illusion style.KNWA20259 MayKUAF: Keer selected20251 AugStreet Art Cities: created202523 AugKNWA: two murals doneRead the full file →

More: This Happens When You Have a Strong Imagination (8 Photos)

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🌸 “In the Golden Afternoon” — By Ouizi in Ticonderoga, New York, USA 🇺🇸

Dahlias, sunflowers and small blue flowers cover the whole brick wall, so the doors and windows become gaps in a giant garden. Ouizi took the title from Lewis Carroll’s poem at the start of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and painted it for Walls Between Waters, which brings murals to downtown Ticonderoga.

💡 Alice Fact: The poem looks back on a boat trip on July 4, 1862, when Carroll first came up with the story for three of the Liddell sisters: Lorina, Alice and Edith.

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🦞 Popeye’s Lobster Trap — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

Before: a green wall with gas meters and a few pipes. After: the meters have eyes, the pipes end in red lobster claws, and the whole set sits in a wooden lobster trap tied to Popeye’s rope, with a SPINACH drum at his feet. Tom Bob grew up in New Bedford before moving to New York, and he painted this wall in his hometown.

💡 Nerd Fact: Popeye was a late arrival. He first appeared in 1929 in E.C. Segar’s Thimble Theater, a strip that had run since 1919 around Olive Oyl.

More: Street Art by Tom Bob – Collection 2 (31 Photos)

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🤖 Robot With a Frog — By Jason Jones in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA 🇺🇸

A gray robot with a flashlight for a head leans out of a real window, a flower sprouting from the top, and holds out one long finger to a small green frog. Mushrooms, flowers and a butterfly fill the wall below. Jones lives in Fayetteville, and back in 2019 he had already painted more than 100 murals in Northwest Arkansas.

💡 Bot Fact: Robots turn up all through his work. His portfolio includes a Strawberry Bot, a Tomato Bot, a Carrot Bot and a Firefly Bot.

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🐊 Alligator Wall — By ROA in Atlanta, Georgia, USA 🇺🇸

A gator the length of the building, on its back with its claws in the air, painted in ROA’s usual black and white. It covers the east side of 209 Mitchell Street, facing Forsyth Street, right under the old Star Hotel sign.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsAlligatorROA · 2011 · Downtown AtlantaLiving Walls 2011Old Star Hotel buildingMitchell & Forsyth1ROA made it for a conference organized by Living Walls Atlanta in 2011, on the side facing Forsyth Street.Southern Spaces2A downtown guide wrote in July 2021 that it had clearly been there a while, as evidenced by the peeling paint.Bitelines Atlanta Food Tours201120 AugFlickr photo, John McNicholas20121 MaySouthern Spaces photo2012JulBlog photos201427 JunRough Draft Atlanta20167 MarAJC photo caption202130 JulPeeling paint noted202221 MayVisitor tip, Roadside America20256 FebBlog post, undated photoRead the full file →

More: ROA – A Street Art Collection

🍩 Homer Simpson Donut — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

Before: a concrete ring around a hole in the grass. After: a pink frosted donut with sprinkles, sized for Homer Simpson. It sits in the middle of the Buttonwood Park baseball field.

More: Street Art by Tom Bob – Collection 2 (31 Photos)

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🎩 “Lincoln” — By Eduardo Kobra in Lexington, Kentucky, USA 🇺🇸

The seated Lincoln from the Lincoln Memorial, broken into bright geometric patches on the back of the Kentucky Theatre. The mural is 60 feet high and went up in 2013.

💡 Nerd Fact: The statue Kobra borrowed is not one block of stone. It was carved from 28 separate pieces of Georgia marble, fitted together almost seamlessly.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsLincolnEduardo Kobra · 2013 · Downtown Lexington60 feet highPRHBTN commissionKentucky Theatre back wall1WTVQ reported the mural complete on 13 November 2013, ahead of the Gettysburg Address’s 150th anniversary.WTVQ2According to Smiley Pete, a measurement mix-up left Kobra a much larger wall, and the Fire Department lent floodlights.Smiley Pete201313 NovWTVQ: mural complete201321 NovStock photo, Barry Fowler201325 NovBlog photos, PRHBTN201416 SepUKNow: visible from Vine St202021 JulVisitor tip, Roadside America202123 JulLEX 18: USA Today top 20202230 JunVisitLEX street-art guideRead the full file →

More: Abraham Lincoln by Eduardo Kobra in Kentucky

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🏊 “Stay Cool Logan” — By Bryan Beyung in Lynn, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

Kids float, wave and swim their way up a turquoise building, with the real windows sitting in the water. Beyung says it is about the lightness of childhood: growing up, playing and making memories. It was made through Beyond Walls’ Classroom to the Streets program, where students, teachers and artists design murals together.

💡 School Fact: The wall keeps teaching after it is finished. Each mural sparks lesson plans built around subjects such as visual arts, social studies, English and science.

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🚂 “Passage Through Ticonderoga” — By Steven Teller in Ticonderoga, New York, USA 🇺🇸

A red steam locomotive, a steamboat and a captain at the wheel, all on one wall. Teller painted it for Walls Between Waters in 2026, based on images from a local historian and research in the New York State archives.

💡 Rail Fact: Ticonderoga sits between Lake George and Lake Champlain. The Delaware & Hudson opened a branch to Baldwin Dock on Lake George in 1875 and another into downtown Ticonderoga in 1890; passenger service on both had ended by 1935.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsPassage Through TiconderogaSteven Teller · 2026 · Downtown TiconderogaDedicated 6 Jun 2026Walls Between WatersMontcalm & Champlain1During public meetings, residents asked for mural themes on the Delaware and Hudson Railroad and steamboat travel.Sun Community News2The festival says the design is based on images from a local historian and research in the New York State archives.Essex County Land Bank20268 JunSun: dedicated 6 JuneRead the full file →

More: 8 American Murals Worth the Detour

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🦋 A Neon Figure Reaches for a Butterfly — By ITSZBITSZ in New York, USA 🇺🇸

A neon green woman holds out one finger to a small butterfly while a see-through wing opens behind her. Scales, vines and a dragon-like headdress wind through the portrait against a dark blue wall.

More: Butterfly Art (15 Photos)

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🧌 “Rose Wonders” — By Thomas Dambo at Burning Man, Nevada, USA 🇺🇸

A woman stands in the cupped hand of a 27-foot troll, with bikes parked at her feet and dust in the air. Thomas Dambo built Rose Wonders mostly from recycled pallet wood for Burning Man 2025. In November 2025 she moved to a permanent home among the redwoods at Filoli, in Woodside, California.

💡 Troll Fact: In Filoli’s announcement, Dambo says she was “born from the idea that humans need to look nature in the eye.” Visitors can climb a hidden staircase through her hair and up into her hands.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsRose WondersThomas Dambo · 2025 · Filoli, WoodsideBurning Man 2025Recycled materialFiloli Redwoods1Burning Man’s journal announced Rose as Dambo’s 2025 Honoraria installation for Black Rock City.Burning Man Journal2Filoli announced on 19 November 2025 that she would live in its redwood grove from 22 November.Filoli202527 MarUnder construction in Denmark202519 NovFiloli announces her arrival202525 NovUnveiled at Filoli202525 NovInMenlo photos at Filoli202615 AprFiloli podcastRead the full file →

More: 10 Giant Trolls Hiding in Forests, Lakes and Ruins

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🎤 Janis Joplin — By Paola Sire in San Antonio, Texas, USA 🇺🇸

Round pink glasses, a shaggy frame of pink and blue feathers, rings, beaded bracelets and a big laugh. Paola Sire painted her on a San Antonio wall and signed it @artxsire in the corner. A Texas singer on a Texas wall: Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1943.

💡 Rock Fact: Joplin went into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, inducted by Melissa Etheridge.

More: Janis Joplin Mural Radiates Joy and Color in San Antonio

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🕷️ “Daddy Long Legs on the Armory” — By Marlin Peterson in Seattle, Washington, USA 🇺🇸

Two daddy longlegs, shadows and all, seem to be walking across a roof. The trick is made for the view from the Space Needle: Marlin Peterson painted them flat on the roof of the Seattle Center Armory, right below it. Seattle Center lists the work from 2012, repainted in 2023.

💡 Paint Fact: Peterson’s own tally, posted by KNKX: about 6 gallons of house paint, about 15 rollers and about 12 trips up the Needle. The widest span between leg tips is 100 feet.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsDaddy Long Legs on the ArmoryMarlin Peterson · 2012 · Seattle CenterSeattle Center Armory roofArtist Trust grant100-foot leg span1Seattle Center says the illusion can only be seen from the Space Needle Observation Deck.Seattle Center2Peterson looked for a big wall, found no takers, and found the Armory roof on Google Earth instead.KNKX20127 SepKNKX: seen from the Needle201210 SepColossal201222 SepScientific American blog201212 OctLaughing Squid20257 JunTravel blog photo from the NeedleRead the full file →

More: Daddy Long Legs in Seattle

🤙 X-Ray Shaka — By SHOK-1 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA 🇺🇸

Thumb and little finger out, the other three folded down: Hawaii’s hang-loose sign, painted as an X-ray. The man standing next to it barely reaches the wrist. London-based SHOK-1 painted it for Pow! Wow! Hawaii in 2017, on the wall outside Lana Lane Studios in Kakaako.

💡 Shaka Fact: The gesture is usually traced to Hamana Kalili, who crushed three fingers in the rollers at the Kahuku Sugar Mill in the early 1900s. The word is credited to Lippy Espinda, a used-car pitchman who ended his 1960s TV ads with “Shaka, brah!”

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsX-Ray ShakaSHOK-1 · 2017 · HonoluluPow! Wow! Hawaii 2017White X-ray on a black wall1According to Arrested Motion, SHOK-1 was “working on one of his instantly recognizable skeletal hands throwing up a shaka” during the 2017 festival.Arrested Motion2According to Hawaii Magazine, the “x-ray shaka” is on the wall just outside Lana Lane Studios in Kakaako.Hawaii Magazine201717 FebIn progress, Arrested Motion20172 MarGraffiti Street photos201715 MarHawaii Magazine photoRead the full file →