OakOak’s Street Surprises (72 Photos)

October 23, 2026

By Vidar

OakOak’s street art begins with a second look

A patch of missing plaster becomes a honeycomb. Deer drink from a mossy wall, a tilted window takes the weight of an elephant, and ivy grows into a heart. OakOak builds these scenes around cracks, plants, shadows and objects already in the street.

These 72 photos range from tiny berry pickers on real vines to fabric acrobats spread across a building. Cartoon characters and familiar paintings appear along the way, often with a railing, window or drainpipe doing part of the work.

💡 Artist Fact: OakOak comes from Saint-Étienne and has been sticking his drawings on walls, sidewalks and roads since 2007. Books of his street work were published in 2011, 2014 and 2016.

🔗 Follow OakOak on Instagram and explore his official website.

💚 Growing a Heart — By OakOak

A child with a watering can stands beneath a living ivy heart.

⛵ A Golden Sea Under a Lamp — By OakOak

A real wall lamp casts a golden path across a painted sea, lighting the tiny sailing ship and the texture of the bricks.

🐘 A Heavy Window Seat — By OakOak

A small elephant perches on the upper edge of a tilted window. Its seated pose makes the real frame look as if it has sagged under the weight.

🦌 A Mossy Watering Hole — By OakOak

Two deer stand against a moss-covered wall. One lowers its head toward a bare patch of plaster, where a few white ripples suggest water.

🎪 The Tightrope Walker — By OakOak

A tiny woman balances at the far end of a real chain. Her raised arms and pink parasol make the barrier part of a circus act.

🐪 La Caravane Passe — By OakOak in France 🇫🇷

In La caravane passe (2011), a line of camels follows the edge of a damaged wall. The exposed layer below becomes a range of sandy hills above the grass.

🐯 The Handrail Slide — By OakOak

Calvin and Hobbes sit together on a sloping handrail. The rail’s curved end gives their tiny ride a ready-made finishing point.

💥 Wile E. Coyote Meets a Wrecking Ball — By OakOak

An accordion-shaped Wile E. Coyote is painted on a concrete cylinder beneath a real wrecking ball, with the tracked crane behind him.

🥛 Milk for the Street — By OakOak in Saint-Étienne, France 🇫🇷

OakOak’s 2023 version of Vermeer’s The Milkmaid pours toward a real metal milk can. OakOak positions the figure at the edge of the wall so the painted and physical objects meet.

🐈 A Cat on Stairs of Light — By OakOak

A black cat walks down a staircase of lit glass blocks.

💡 Catching a Streetlight — By OakOak

A silhouetted child reaches upward with a net beneath a real streetlight, treating its warm glow like a firefly to catch.

🌳 Bush Faces — By OakOak

A green bush and a bare one make a contrasting pair. Large eyes and red mouths give both plants expressions without hiding their different textures.

🐝 The Urban Bees — By OakOak in Saint-Étienne, France 🇫🇷

Six bees circle a damaged patch of plaster. The exposed hexagonal wire mesh becomes their honeycomb, with the broken wall supplying the shape.

🔘 ON / OFF — By OakOak in Amsterdam, Netherlands 🇳🇱

A raised piece of pavement becomes the rocker of a giant switch. OakOak painted the ON and OFF labels around it in June 2016, completing the illusion.

👀 A Long-Nosed Post — By OakOak

The looped metal handle gives this street post a long curved nose. Two eyes and a red mouth turn the rounded top into a face.

🌸 Sideshow Bob in Bloom — By OakOak in Saint-Étienne, France 🇫🇷

Purple wisteria hangs over Sideshow Bob’s painted face, replacing his tall hair. The flowers spread well beyond the small portrait on the wall.

🎈 We Are Free — By OakOak in France 🇫🇷

In this 2012 piece, a real plant growing from the wall supplies the balloon. Below it, two small passengers peer from a painted basket suspended by ropes.

💚 Hulk Is Angryyyyy — By OakOak in Loire, France 🇫🇷

Two green fists emerge beside a long crack in the wall. Their placement makes the damaged plaster look as though it has just been punched apart.

🐶 Snoopy’s Shadow Doghouse — By OakOak in Saint-Étienne, France 🇫🇷

The shadow of a parking meter becomes Snoopy’s doghouse, with Snoopy painted lying on its roof while the real meter stands in the foreground. OakOak made it on Valentine’s Day 2015.

🐄 Just Enough Pasture — By OakOak

A black-and-white cow lowers its head to the grass growing at the foot of a wall. The narrow strip of weeds becomes its grazing field.

🏋️ Atlas and the Missing Plaster — By OakOak

An Atlas figure supports the large patch of exposed wall above him. The missing plaster supplies the weight, leaving the small figure to carry it.

🏰 Climbing a Tower Made of Shadow — By OakOak in Paris, France 🇫🇷

The shadow of a striped awning supplies a tower’s battlements, while a painted arched window and climbing figure complete the nighttime illusion.

😴 Homer’s Hammock — By OakOak

A sagging strip between the railing posts becomes Homer’s hammock. He stretches out across it, sleeping just above the pavement.

👻 A Ghost with Flowers — By OakOak in Le Locle, Switzerland 🇨🇭

In Les fleurs sont périssables (Flowers Die), a small ghost on Rue de la Gare holds a real bouquet of yellow flowers beside a barred window. A painted shadow beneath him makes the sheet appear to float.

🐯 Calvin and Hobbes Take a Walk — By OakOak

Calvin and Hobbes balance on a real trail of ivy. The curving stem provides a narrow path across the wall beside the metal shutter.

🔥 The Fire-Breathing Dragon — By OakOak in France 🇫🇷

A tiny red dragon stands beside a blackened wall. The existing scorch marks make its small burst of fire look much bigger.

🌿 Do Not Disturb — By OakOak in La Louvière, Belgium 🇧🇪

Marsupilami characters settle into the greenery spilling from a wall planter. One hangs below the leaves beside a very clear request for privacy.

🧩 A Face in the Cracks — By OakOak

Cracks in the paving outline a face in profile. A painted eye and a smoking pipe complete the figure without covering the rough surface.

🧞 A Whole New World — By OakOak

Jasmine appears behind a real balcony railing while Aladdin waits below. Their positions turn two boarded openings into separate levels of the same scene.

🎈 Up Goes the Fence — By OakOak in Reims, France 🇫🇷

Bright balloons lift two painted fence panels from the pavement. The real fence beside the mural continues the pattern and makes the floating sections look newly detached. Photo: Théo Pitout / Observascope.

🚶 Moving the Crosswalk — By OakOak

Small white figures push against the ends of worn crossing stripes. Their bent arms and legs make the road markings look unexpectedly movable.

🎩 Charlie Chaplin — By OakOak in Mulhouse, France 🇫🇷

A black street bollard supplies the hat, jacket and body. A white face and bow tie turn its rounded top into Charlie Chaplin. Photo: Equis007.

🥋 Bruce Lee’s Kick — By OakOak in Saint-Étienne, France 🇫🇷

In this March 2014 piece, Bruce Lee’s raised foot meets the bent railing. The yellow figure is small, but the damaged metal makes the kick look powerful.

🟡 Pac-Man Parking — By OakOak in Amsterdam, Netherlands 🇳🇱

A row of parking blocks becomes Pac-Man and his ghosts, painted in June 2016. The bright colors follow the shapes of the blocks along the grassy curb.

🐎 Clearing the Rail — By OakOak

A horse and rider jump across a closed roller shutter. The real window rail crosses beneath them at just the right height to become the obstacle.

🛏️ The Good, the Bed, the Ugly — By OakOak

A discarded mattress takes the middle role in this Western lineup. Its hat and drawn face complete the joke written above the three figures.

🪜 The Escape — By OakOak in Lyon, France 🇫🇷

In this 2012 piece, a small figure runs from a wall vent fitted with a drawn ladder. The real metal bars become the window of a tiny prison.

🪟 Two Women at a Window — By OakOak

Two women from Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s Two Women at a Window look out from a boarded window above a passerby. The real iron railing sits in front of them, joining the image to the building.

👻 Ghosts in the Square — By OakOak

Three rounded street barriers become arcade ghosts with orange, blue and red bodies. A pair of rectangular eyes gives each block its character.

👻 The Ghost Crossing — By OakOak and the Créateurs de Bonheurs in Auchel, France 🇫🇷

One white stripe rises into a sheet-like ghost while the neighboring stripes react. The faces turn the crossing into a small crowd.

🌙 Moonlight on Concrete — By OakOak

A ship, lighthouse and crescent moon sit along a concrete balcony. Yellow marks trail down its face like moonlight reflected on water.

🍇 Berry Workers — By OakOak in Avignon, France 🇫🇷

Three tiny harvesters balance on real vines, collecting the dark berries. Their painted baskets and careful poses turn the bare branches into a busy workplace.

❤️ Very Hot — By OakOak

Two red fire connections lean toward each other. Eyes, bent arms and a pair of floating hearts turn the pipes into an affectionate couple.

🛸 UFO Attack — By OakOak in Dresden, Germany 🇩🇪

In UFO Attack (September 2016), a street post becomes a flying saucer and its yellow beam. Near the bottom, a tiny cow appears to rise above a green patch.

💪 Obelix Takes a Stripe — By OakOak

Obelix carries one of the crosswalk’s white stripes on his shoulder. The missing section leaves a gap among the painted road markings.

😴 A Place to Rest — By OakOak

A reclining figure settles into a curved ridge in the wall. The rough plaster follows his back.

🌳 Cacofonix Tied to the Tree — By OakOak

Cacofonix (Assurancetourix in French), the bard from Asterix, is tied to the tree with a checked gag across his mouth, the way he usually ends up at the closing feast of the albums. Coils of real red tubing wrap around his lower body.

🌙 A Serenade for the Broken-Window Moon — By OakOak

A small Pierrot musician serenades a crescent formed by missing glass, turning an old industrial window into a quiet night scene.

🕯️ A Candle on the Wall — By OakOak

A tall access panel becomes the body of a candle. An orange flame and short black wick painted above complete the candle.

💸 An Empty Vault — By OakOak

Scrooge McDuck stands beside rows of open safe-deposit boxes. Loose painted banknotes trail around his feet while the real compartments sit empty.

☁️ A Caravan in the Clouds — By OakOak

Blue sky and white clouds cover a caravan inside an industrial hall. Two suited figures stand on a cloud while real wires cross the painted scene.

💃 Dancing Fence — By OakOak

Two bent bars become a dancing couple. OakOak adds only small faces, letting the twists in the metal supply the bodies and movement.

🕯️ Madeleine and the Urban Night-Light — By OakOak

A contemplative woman sits beside a glowing painted fire, with the building’s horizontal masonry lines running through this homage to Georges de La Tour.

⚡ Homer and the Wires — By OakOak

Homer Simpson hangs beside an electrical box and real cables. Painted blue sparks turn the wall’s wiring into his latest electrical mishap.

💧 Between the Pipes — By OakOak

A small blue figure drops through the gap between two sections of drainpipe. Its outstretched limbs fill the missing piece of the plumbing.

🤸 Toy Acrobats on a Building — By OakOak in Bordeaux, France 🇫🇷

Oversized fabric figures tumble down the former Benauge fire station in Bordeaux, bringing the movement of sticky window toys to an entire facade.

💡 Place Fact: The Benauge fire station was designed by architect Claude Ferret with Yves Salier and Adrien Courtois and inaugurated in 1954. The whole complex, including its drying tower and former gymnasium, was listed as a historic monument in 2014.

Project collaborators: UZINOU, Tango Nomade, Agence Nodal and Fonds Cré’atlantique.

👗 Dressed by the Wall — By OakOak

Flaking blue, green and gray layers form the skirt and bodice of a dress. A few dark lines above them add a woman’s shoulders, arm and hair.

💧 A Pitcher by the Water — By OakOak

A woman holds a pitcher beside water spilling over the edge of a basin. Her outstretched hand brings the small painted figure into the real flow.

🔋 Fully Charged — By OakOak

Four tall metal panels become battery indicators, moving from one red bar to four green ones. Their matching shapes make the progression easy to spot.

🍏 The Son of Man as a Bollard — By OakOak

A street bollard wears a dark suit, red tie and green apple face: Magritte’s The Son of Man, at bollard height.

💡 Art History Fact: René Magritte painted The Son of Man in 1964 as a self-portrait and sold it to Harry Torczyner that August. The original is in a private collection; Christie’s auctioned it in 1998 for $5,392,500.

💋 A Tiny Kiss — By OakOak

Two white pieces on a gum-covered wall become the covered heads of a kissing couple. Tiny red and black clothes distinguish them from the surrounding spots.

🧗 The Crack Climber — By OakOak

A tiny climber grips the edge of a broken wall. The large missing section becomes a cliff face beside an old blue door.

🐎 Don Quixote Across the Windows — By OakOak in Saint-Étienne, France 🇫🇷

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza travel through a row of windows, where painted fields, windmills and a crescent moon join the separate panes.

🍩 Doughnut Balloons — By OakOak

Homer Simpson reaches upward with a bunch of pink doughnut balloons. Fine black strings connect each frosted ring to the small silhouette below.

🕊️ The Tango Birds Spread Their Wings — By OakOak in Paris, France 🇫🇷

Painted birds spread their wings beside the Tango entrance in Paris. OakOak revisited the piece after the protective bars had disappeared.

🥷 Ninja Star — By OakOak in Malakoff, France 🇫🇷

A blue ninja reaches toward a metal fitting on the wall. Its star-like outline becomes the projectile in a very small action scene, painted in July 2015.

🕷️ Spider-Man’s Shortcut — By OakOak

Spider-Man hangs upside down at the end of a wall crack, in a piece from 2011. The thin split continues upward like a web stretching out of the frame.

💛 Klimt’s Kiss in Yellow Lichen — By OakOak in Hesdigneul-lès-Béthune, France 🇫🇷

Yellow lichen becomes the golden cloak in OakOak’s version of Klimt’s The Kiss, painted around a tree against a brick wall.

Made for Les Petits Bonheurs, with residents of Nid du Moulin.

☁️ Cloud Versus Sun — By OakOak

A dark cloud stands over a flattened yellow sun beside the steps. The small characters stage their weather dispute along the base of the wall.

🌿 A Little Green Hill — By OakOak

A curved patch of moss becomes a grassy hill beneath a woman with a parasol. Painted blue sky completes a small landscape at the foot of the wall.

🎮 Duck Hunt and the White Birds — By OakOak in Ostend, Belgium 🇧🇪

The pixelated Duck Hunt dog holds two white birds with crosses for eyes and olive branches, while a third bird flies away nearby.

💡 Game Fact: Nintendo released Duck Hunt for the Famicom in Japan in April 1984, played with a light gun aimed at a CRT television. In the console versions, the laughing dog was made impossible to shoot to keep the game family-friendly.