Tom Bob’s Clever Street Art (65 Photos)

October 23, 2026

By Vidar

Tom Bob’s street art starts with what is already there

A drainpipe becomes an elephant’s trunk. A gas meter turns into a flamingo. Elsewhere, a parking block is a giant French fry, and a wall lamp gives a painted firefly its glow. Tom Bob starts with the shape of an object and paints the rest of the joke around it.

Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and based in New York City, Tom Bob works with sketches, stencils and spray paint. The New Bedford Light reports that he often scouts cities on Google Street View before traveling to art festivals. These 65 images range from his familiar pipe creatures to rooftop dogs, cartoon cellar doors and portraits made from construction barriers. The before-and-after views show how much was there before he picked up a can.

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🏴‍☠️ A Pirate’s Tangled Beard — By Tom Bob

The coiled garden hose supplies this pirate’s beard. Wide eyes, a patterned bandanna and a skull flag turn the wall around it into a full character.

🐶 Bear the Dog — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

An exhaust vent at the Star Store, 715 Purchase Street, becomes Bear the dog, with round eyes, a pink tongue, and painted paws on the base below. Tom Bob told The New Bedford Light that he named it after Bear, a Chow belonging to Matt McArthur of the Arts & Business Council, which is redeveloping the building.

💡 Place Fact: The Star Store was once a grand department store that closed in the 1980s and later housed UMass Dartmouth’s art college. After state funding for that campus was pulled in 2023, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston bought the building for $1.

💡 A Firefly Lights the Door — By Tom Bob

A porch lantern becomes the glowing tail of a green firefly. White wings and red-tipped antennae spread across the brickwork above the working light.

🧀 Mouse and Cheese — By Tom Bob in New York City, USA 🇺🇸

Sloping cellar doors at a laundromat on Delancey Street at Chrystie Street become a wedge of Swiss cheese, with a gray mouse perched at the top and its pink tail curling down the side.

🏋️ A Workout for Two — By Tom Bob in Los Angeles, California, USA 🇺🇸

These neighboring gas meters at 2516 Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake take different exercises. One lifts a barbell overhead; the other stretches between gymnastic rings, with the pipework forming their arms.

☎️ Call Me — By Tom Bob in New York City, USA 🇺🇸

The curved ventilation pipe becomes a telephone receiver. Its sloping base carries the keypad, while a painted coiled cord connects the two.

🦩 Pink Flamingo — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

A gas meter supplies the flamingo’s body, while a bent pipe follows its long neck. One painted leg lifts away from the green brick wall.

🐝 Bee Kind — By Tom Bob

Four wall fittings give this smiling bee its projecting eyes and antennae. Painted wings open behind it, with yellow flowers growing in front.

🐊 An Alligator Along the Curb — By Tom Bob in New Haven, Connecticut, USA 🇺🇸

A long curved pipe on Whitney Avenue, where it crosses the Farmington Canal Trail, becomes a green alligator. Painted eyes, scales and white teeth follow the metal all the way to its narrow snout. According to Yale Alumni Magazine, the Town Green District commissioned the piece, and Tom Bob also proposed a yellow salamander for the same pipe.

🐍 Bucky the Snake — By Tom Bob in New York City, USA 🇺🇸

The standpipe at 44 Lispenard Street in Tribeca supplies Bucky’s eyes and upright neck; the spotted blue body continues into coils painted on the sidewalk.

⌚ Watches Inside a Coat — By Tom Bob in Long Beach, California, USA 🇺🇸

Three electrical meters become watches displayed inside a seller’s open coat. Painted straps run through the real dials, with a fourth watch laid across the bottom.

🐍 Snakes in Love — By Tom Bob in Kaohsiung, Taiwan 🇹🇼

Two pavement barriers become striped snakes whose heads meet beneath a red heart. Their bodies rise off the ground and return to painted faces on the pavement.

🥁 Ringo at the Drums — By Tom Bob

A concrete cylinder becomes a Beatles drum, and two narrow posts become drumsticks. Behind them, Ringo Starr’s long nose and mop of hair fill the wall.

🐦 A Bird with a Camera Eye — By Tom Bob in Dubai, United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪

A dome security camera gives this blue bird a large, glossy eye. A yellow beak and orange feet complete the small character on the wall.

🐦 A Window Becomes a Birdcage — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

The window already has the bars. Tom Bob adds a domed top and a long stand, then paints the bird outside its cage.

🐸 A Frog at the Water’s Edge — By Tom Bob in Kaohsiung, Taiwan 🇹🇼

A rounded mooring bollard becomes a lime-green frog sticking out its tongue. Webbed feet spread across the quay below the bulky metal head.

🥫 Tombob Soup — By Tom Bob in New York City, USA 🇺🇸

A red-and-white barrel becomes a Campbell’s-style soup can, with “Tombob” worked into the label.

🪥 Brush Em’ Up — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

A pipe runs across the character’s enormous grin as a red toothbrush. The box attached to its left end becomes a fist wrapped around the handle.

🎷 The Pipe Saxophonist — By Tom Bob in Miami, Florida, USA 🇺🇸

At 64 NW 54th Street in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood, a gold-painted pipe becomes the instrument in a cartoon musician’s hands. Its painted bell curls onto the pavement below.

🐜 A Drainpipe Anteater — By Tom Bob in Brooklyn, New York City, USA 🇺🇸

On this blue Bushwick wall, the drainpipe follows the anteater’s long snout toward a trail of ants. One heavy eyelid gives it an unhurried expression.

🦞 Gas-Meter Lobsters — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

Two red lobsters rise from a pair of gas meters. Existing bends in the pipework guide their limbs up the green wall toward the painted claws.

🦒 A Giraffe in the Stairwell — By Tom Bob

An emergency light near the ceiling becomes a giraffe’s head. The painted neck reaches all the way down the stairwell to its small body.

🦀 A Crab Bench — By Tom Bob in Dubai, United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪

A wooden bench becomes a bright red crab at La Mer in Dubai. Its legs and open claws spread over the decking beyond the rectangular body.

💡 Festival Fact: Tom Bob was a first-time participant in Dubai Canvas, a festival run by Brand Dubai, the creative arm of the Government of Dubai Media Office. Its fourth edition was held at La Mer from March 1 to 7, 2018.

🎳 A Manhole Bowling Ball — By Tom Bob in Kaohsiung, Taiwan 🇹🇼

Three finger holes turn the manhole cover into a bowling ball. Beyond the fallen pins, a utility box and conduits become the bowler completing his throw.

🪢 A Bike-Rack Skipping Rope — By Tom Bob in Dubai, United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪

A girl in a blue dress holds the two ends of a bicycle rack as a skipping rope. Her painted hands meet its mounting plates on the floor.

🌈 A Fan Becomes a Pinwheel — By Tom Bob in Taiwan 🇹🇼

Colored fan blades become the pinwheel in a girl’s hand. A yellow stick connects it to her, and the red, blue and yellow repeat across her dress.

💛 Love Snakes — By Tom Bob in Miami, Florida, USA 🇺🇸

At 500 NW 36th Street in Wynwood, a pair of bent pipes meet nose to nose as blue and yellow snakes. Their spotted bodies curl away in opposite directions, while two red hearts float above.

🎧 A Walkman Break — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

A utility cabinet takes the shape of a blue Sony Walkman. Beside it, a girl in headphones closes her eyes and listens, with painted music notes above her.

🍞 An Oversized Toaster — By Tom Bob

Two dark slots on top turn the utility housing into a toaster. A green cord and plug trail over the paving beside it.

🐦 Dockside Birds — By Tom Bob

The two rising ends of a mooring bollard become birds leaning toward one another. A painted nest wraps around their shared base.

🪞 Snake Mirror — By Tom Bob in Brooklyn, New York City, USA 🇺🇸

A standpipe at 77 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill becomes a green snake inspecting itself in a painted mirror, while its spotted tail winds across the sidewalk.

🎱 A Giant Rack of Pool Balls — By Tom Bob

Stacked metal drums form a ready-made triangle. Tom Bob paints the circular ends as numbered pool balls, mixing solid colors and stripes.

🍕 A Pizza on the Sidewalk — By Tom Bob

A circular manhole cover becomes a pepperoni pizza. One painted slice has slipped onto the pavement, leaving a dark wedge behind.

🍟 Fries by the Curb — By Tom Bob

Yellow parking blocks become fries for a girl sitting against the wall. She holds one to her mouth and balances another on an enormous fork.

More: French Fry Girl by Tom Bob

👓 Andy Warhol — By Tom Bob in New York City, USA 🇺🇸

The barrier’s two holes become Andy Warhol’s eyes, framed by red glasses and a sweep of silver hair.

🔨 The Wall-Mounted Jackhammer — By Tom Bob

A box and its cables become a jackhammer in the hands of a worker wearing a yellow hard hat. Broken pavement beneath him completes the scene.

🐘 An Elephant Leaves Its Cage — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

At 127 Rodney French Boulevard, the drainpipe curves into the elephant’s blue trunk. Beside it, a grille becomes a wheeled cage, with a ramp leading out toward the peanuts painted on the ledge.

🌌 A Princess Leia Hydrant — By Tom Bob in Long Beach, California, USA 🇺🇸

On this hydrant at 4321 Atlantic Avenue, the side fittings become Princess Leia’s brown hair buns. A face around the front cap and a white outfit finish the character.

🎩 Charlie Chaplin’s Cane — By Tom Bob in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

A diagonal pipe becomes Charlie Chaplin’s cane. Two round wall caps supply his eyes, with a bowler hat and oversized shoes painted around the fittings.

🚀 Darth Vader — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

A paper-towel dispenser at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School supplies Darth Vader’s helmet, with his body and a pink lightsaber painted on the wall below.

🪽 A Winged Wall Creature — By Tom Bob

The wall vent supplies a deep, open mouth. Tom Bob surrounds it with a turquoise face, wide white wings and two yellow antennae.

🛡️ A Knight in the Pavement — By Tom Bob

The drain’s slotted grille becomes a helmet visor. A red plume and sections of armor are painted around it, leaving the knight looking up from the ground.

❤️ I Love You This Much — By Tom Bob in Boston, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

A mooring bollard at 172 Condor Street in East Boston becomes a wide-eyed figure stretching out both arms. Tom Bob identifies 1970s Russ and Wallace Berrie figurines as its reference.

🐊 An Alligator in the Parking Space — By Tom Bob in Dubai, United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪

A parking block becomes the alligator’s long green body. White teeth line its squared-off snout, while legs and a tail extend over the paving.

🎈 Russell from Up — By Tom Bob

The hydrant becomes Russell, complete with a yellow cap, red neckerchief and sash of badges. Real balloons are tied beside him, above painted clouds.

🍩 A Donut on the Grass — By Tom Bob

Pink frosting and colored sprinkles cover a concrete ring. Its existing central hole supplies the part every donut needs.

🎢 The Shadow Roller Coaster — By Tom Bob

The fence supplies the track as a moving shadow. Tom Bob adds a train full of riders, their arms raised as the line dips across the sidewalk.

🐦 Blue Bird of Happiness — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

A projecting vent becomes the bird’s huge yellow beak. Below it, a pipe extends its long blue neck down toward the painted body and narrow orange legs.

😬 Air-Conditioning Faces — By Tom Bob

Paired fans become eyes along this row of air-conditioning units. A red triangular nose and a gritted smile complete each face beneath them.

🍳 Breakfast on the Pavement — By Tom Bob

The round cover becomes a frying pan holding two eggs. A black handle painted onto the sidewalk completes the pan.

🐿️ A Squirrel in the Tree — By Tom Bob

A filled cavity in the trunk becomes a squirrel holding an acorn. Its wide eyes sit just below the arch of the surrounding bark.

🪀 A Recessed Yo-Yo — By Tom Bob

A round fixture at the back of this recess becomes a red yo-yo. A painted hand reaches in from above, holding its black string.

🪂 Bart Drops In — By Tom Bob

The projecting pipe fitting becomes Bart Simpson’s small body. A parachute painted above him seems to hold the character against the wall.

🌱 A Grass-Haired Boulder — By Tom Bob

Tom Bob adds wide eyes and rosy cheeks to the exposed rock. The grass cascading over its top supplies the hair.

🎺 A Trombone at School — By Tom Bob in New York City, USA 🇺🇸

Yellow pipes form the instrument’s tubing outside P.S. 020 Anna Silver School in New York City. A huge painted bell spreads across the brick wall opposite the puff-cheeked player.

💡 History Fact: The school took the number 20 in 1960 to keep alive the number of a discontinued Lower East Side school whose graduates included Senator Jacob K. Javits and actor Edward G. Robinson. According to NYC Parks, it was named for Anna Silver, a Lower East Side immigrant, shortly after her death that same year.

More: Tom Bob’s Trombone Player

🦕 Dinosaur — By Tom Bob in New York City, USA 🇺🇸

A bent air vent at 70 East 1st Street in the East Village becomes a yellow dinosaur, with bright spots running down its long neck and body.

🤖 Gallery X Robot — By Tom Bob in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸

At Gallery X, 169 William Street, electrical boxes form a tall robot whose jointed painted arm reaches around the wall lantern.

🍄 A Flattened Gnome — By Tom Bob in Brooklyn, New York City, USA 🇺🇸

A corner bollard at South 8th Street and Kent Avenue in Williamsburg becomes the gnome’s tall red hat. His beard, hands and feet spread across the pavement, with tire tracks running over the flattened body.

🎵 Bob Marley on a Utility Box — By Tom Bob in Manhattan, New York City, USA 🇺🇸

Existing cables join the painted dreadlocks of this Bob Marley portrait at Broadway and West 151st Street in Harlem. Beneath the box, his small body raises a peace sign and wears a one-heart shirt.

🚪 Homesick — By Tom Bob in New York City, USA 🇺🇸

An emergency light becomes the head of a long-necked figure at Village Works bookstore, 12 St. Mark’s Place, with the body painted down the narrow wall below.