Tom Bob is not your everyday kind of graffiti artist. Instead of vandalizing urban landscapes, he’s making cities come back to life.

From rain pipes to air conditioners and vents, from manhole covers to random objects, like tactile pavement, poles, bumps, rods, bins, and fire hydrants, everything is really one giant canvas for Tom. And this is where his signature cartoonish creatures find their home.

Initially starting with the streets of New York, the artist has since hopped from city to city, leaving their streets and corners way more colorful in return. No wonder he’s built quite a fanbase with 258k devoted Instagram followers, and many more waiting for his street artworks to pop up in cities around the US.

So scroll down, upvote your favorite ones, and make sure to check out our previous posts here and here with Tom Bob’s brilliant works that perfectly immerse into the concrete jungle.

More info: Instagram

#1 Davy Jones

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#2 Close Your Eyes, Breathe, Relax

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The street artist Tom Bob grew up in northeastern Massachusetts and he moved to New York in the ’80s, where he discovered his interest in art. But he only got into street art later in life and he’s been pursuing his colorful projects for 5 years now.

Tom Bob explained, “The emotion I try to create is happiness. That’s my focus. And the thing which I love about street art is that it’s the most democratic art form, the most world-wide, expressive art form in the last 15 years. And it’s for everyone to see.”

The artist who became famous in NYC, after spreading his colorful artworks in cities across the US, believes that the fact street art is available for everyone is what really makes it so special. “So this kind of person is walking down, who’s not going to a gallery, and it just kind of puts a smile on his face.”

#3 Love Snakes

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#4 Gnome Down!

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Essentially, Tom Bob’s art creates a whole different perspective on things that we are very familiar with. In an interview, he said he enjoys creating “something that’s kind of mundane, and when you see this everyday object you’re familiar with, it’s turned into something fun and whimsical. That’s the direction and ambition of doing all of this,” Tom Bob commented on his work.

Contrary to much street art, Tom’s street pieces are not static, nor isolated. On the contrary, they’re deeply transformative as they create new meanings and fresh perspectives to mundane things that people don’t take a second look at.

#5 Roller Coaster

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#6 Nurses Always Looking Out For Us

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#7 Rack’em Up!

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#8 Lue Bird Of Happiness

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#9 Homer Simpson Donut

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Tom Bob belongs to the wave of American street artists who have been working on colorful and large-scale murals that helped to legitimize street art as an independent form of art. Meanwhile, graffiti evolved in several directions; some artists were using stencils to create more intricate drawings, and others used spray paint to put up murals around their cities. 

The latter is also called tagging, and is thought to be a primitive and often badly regarded form of expression. In many countries across the world, tagging streets even goes against the law.

#10 Star Wars

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#11 Toasty

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#12 Bee Kind

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#13 Pizza Time

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#14 Verified Light My Fire

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#15 Let’s Start This New Year Off Strong!

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Renowned contemporary artist Barry McGee is considered to be one of the most pivotal members of the street art movement. San Francisco-based artists have been inspired by the bold, cartoon-like forms that became typical of the movement.

Around the same time, another prominent New York street artist named Keith Haring was actively creating. In 1982, Keith Haring created his first major outdoor mural on the Houston Bowery Wall in New York City, which is now considered one of the most iconic street art pieces ever made.

Haring’s famous mural was created using his signature style figures and bold colors, and it became firmly entrenched in the history of graffiti and street art.

#16 Better To Be 6 Feet Apart Than 6 Feet Under

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#17 Chill Pill

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#18 Sunny-Side Up

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#19 Yo-Yo

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#20 Rench Fry Girl, 1637 Acushnet Ave

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Today, street art is widely associated with terms like “independent art,” “post-graffiti,” “neo-graffiti,” and guerrilla art. Its key message is making art visible and available to all viewers. Oftentimes, many artists find street art as a perfect tool to spread their message, comment on the current events, and criticize what they think is wrong with our current times.

For example, the legendary British artist Banksy often goes political in his works, making harsh criticism of consumer culture and capitalist society.

#21 Gator Sighting

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#22 Snacktime

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#23 Whale Love

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#24 Here’s To The Class Of 2020

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#25 Johnny 5

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#26 Made This Bart Simpson Skydiving Piece 2 Years Ago In The Great City Of Sacramento

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#27 Love Birds

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#28 Meet Dustin Reynolds

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#29 Makeover

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#30 Verified I Left My Heart In Sacramento

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#31 Who’s Ready To Change

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#32 Pencil

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#33 Screw

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#34 Lizzard

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#35 Zebra

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#36 Escape From Alcatraz!

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#37 The Big Apple

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#38 Accordion Player

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#39 I Want Candy

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#40 “Be Yourself Everyone Else Is Already Taken”

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#41 Verified Its So Hot In NYC, Even The Traffic Cones Are Wilting

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#42 Xylophone Player

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#43 See You Soon

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#44 Head Over Heels

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#45 Vote!

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#46 This Is An Adventure

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#47 Scuba Diving

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#48 Kudu

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#49 What’s Up Doc?

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#50 Bird Love

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#51 Pufferfish

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#52 Snake Bustin-Out

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#53 Dalmation

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#54 Don’t Lose Your Head

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#55 Jack-O-Lantern

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#56 Joker

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#57 I Come From A Land Down Under Koala

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#58 Crab

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#59 All Aboard!!

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#60 Diving Bell

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#61 Money, So They Say

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#62 Robots

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#63 It Was Like Running Into A Brick Wall!

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#64 Break On Through

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#65 Robot Water Fountains

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#66 Tiger

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#67 Zip It!

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#68 Alley Cat

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#69 Pig

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#70 Spider-Man

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#71 Blue Bird

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#72 Fish Love

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#73 Chameleon

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#74 You Are Stronger Than You Think

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#75 Doggy Style

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#76 Let The Sunshine In

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#77 Hold Your Head Up High

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#78 Buzzzzz!!!!

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#79 Robots

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#80 Stephen Hawking

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#81 Happy World Emoji Day

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#82 Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!!

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#83 Flamingo

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#84 Lady And The Tramp

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#85 Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse

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#86 Doggy

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#87 The Solution We All Live With

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#88 Caterpillar

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#89 Raccoon

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#90 Putt

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#91 Alien Sighting

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#92 Frog

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#93 Hitting The Slopes

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#94 Verified Butterfly

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#95 Ground Control To Major Tom

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#96 Rise & Shine

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#97 Unicorn

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#98 Lady Bugs

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#99 Spiders

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#100 Ice Cream Cone

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#101 Vinnie The Frog

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#102 Are You Ready To Take The Leap?

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#103 Diamond Ring

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#104 Here’s To The Dreamers!

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#105 Spread Your Wings!

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#106 “Break A Leg” Or Two!

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#107 Stormy Weather

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#108 Elephant

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#109 Robots

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#110 Hanging Around

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#111 Feed Me!!

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#112 Leap Of Faith

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#113 Poppin Wheelies

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#114 Frankenstein

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#115 “You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat”

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#116 Kit Kat Kid

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#117 Snake. Beware Of Snakes!!

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#118 Marshmello Crossing

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#119 Elvis Crossing

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#120 Rat

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#121 Prison Break!

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#122 Snake

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#123 Katie Eddington. Lost Her Leg Resulting From A Lawnmower Accident In 2013. Now At Age 9 She Runs, Swims, Plays Basketball & Soccer

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#124 “You Can Fall Many Times In Life, But Your Never A Failure Until You Refuse To Get Back Up”

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#125 Merry Christmas

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#126 Strange Days Indeed

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#127 Stop Coronavirus

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#128 Busting Into Fort Knox

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#129 Yoga Frog

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#130 Snail

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#131 Don’t Lose Your Head

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#132 Next… Sewer… 1995…

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#133 Baseball Catcher

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#134 Roller Girl

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#135 Kashink1

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#136 Who’s Ready For A Change?

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#137 Who Needs A Haircut?

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#138 Miami Marlin

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#139 Espresso Machine

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#140 Dragonfly

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#141 Chihuahua

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#142 Scuba Diver

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#143 Sam The Monkey

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#144 Snake In La

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#145 Mad Max

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#146 Got A Nikon Camera

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#147 Say Ahhh!

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#148 If You Ever Wondered Where #lovepotioncomes From It’s Made Deep In The Jungle Of #colombia

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Source: boredpanda.com