Utility box art is a form of

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant graff ...

whereby utility boxes on city streets are painted or otherwise covered in artwork.

In cities around the world

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

: Paul Walsh series of painted utility boxes. Walsh is inspired by Internet memes. *

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359 ...

: Started the first program in the country to paint utility boxes as graffiti abatement in 2004. The program has been very successful, and paid artists have painted over 375 boxes in the city as of 2021. *

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

: in January 2014, city officials solicited proposals from artists to paint murals on 26 utility boxes downtown, as part of a greater effort to make the city more arts-friendly like fellow Los Angeles suburbs Santa Monica and

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

: Launched in the late 2020, the utility boxes owned by the

Kuala Lumpur City Hall The Kuala Lumpur City Hall ( ms, Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, abbreviated DBKL) is the city council which administers the city of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. This council was established after the city was officially granted city status on 1 Feb ...

along with other properties were colourfully painted to transform the rundown areas, to bring more vibrant to the city and to attract more domestic and international tourists. *

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

: in

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...

, utility boxes were painted in a project taking place during January 2014. The micro-public art project began in Boyle Heights along the First Street Corridor and expanded into downtown and is led by councilman

José Huizar José Luis Huizar (born September 10, 1968) is a Mexican-American politician and a former member of the Los Angeles City Council. Huizar was arrested and indicted on June 23, 2020, on federal corruption charges. Huizar was elected on November 8, ...

. *

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

: in July 2013, as part of efforts to beautify the city, the Santa Ana City Council set up a Utility Box Art Project and launched a call for artists, with a stipend of $700 for each box plus $200 for supplies. * Sequim, Washington sponsors a utility box art program and so far painted utility boxes include those by artists Gary Robertson, Katelin Ghormley and Dale Faulstich. *

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

began placing art on City-owned utility boxes in fall of 2016. *

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...

: In early 2015 the City Of Costa Mesa Cultural Arts Committee launched a utility box art program that features beautiful work from several talented artists. Local photographer Wade McDonald who is known for his unique colorful underwater marine life images can be found on the corner of Bristol & Paularino next to the Hilton Hotel not far from the ''world''-''renowned''

South Coast Plaza South Coast Plaza is a regional shopping mall in Costa Mesa, California. The largest shopping center on the West Coast of the United States, its pre-COVID sales of over $1.5 billion annually were the highest in the United States. Its 275 retail ...

Shopping Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A Retail#Shopper profiles, typology of shopper types ha ...

Mall.

References

{{reflist Public art Visual arts genres Street culture Graffiti and unauthorised signage