You Can't Hold a Good Utility Box Down

Our tour of found-art and colorful improvements of utility infrastructure continues!

While this first picture isn't really a utility box, it is a concrete pylon that has been beautifully rendered into a luscious depiction of California Poppies.  The artist's use of complementary colors in delicate, almost pastel hues lends a softness to this hard and dried up corner next to a car repair shop.  This photo was taken in North Park.

Wow.  While I do like the multi-culti depiction, this one just makes no sense to me.  Is that a piggy bank, or is it a plastic shopping bag? Or the weird love-child of a piggy bank and a plastic shopping bag?  This gets the WTF award out of this particular batch of utility boxes.

This is the backside of the same utility box.  The person's head is wrapped in an old-timey mumps scarf, and the teapot/brown paper bag seems to be the epicenter of a big red snake/sausage.

The dog playing with a ball is sporting some large and blank Special Moments eyes, while the other dog looks like he is wearing glaucoma glasses and a circus dog tutu-like collar.

I am willing to be that these 2 sides were done by the same artist who was exploring different techniques and motifs.

Adjacent to the above pictured utility box we find this other multi-culti family and earth themed utility box.  The colors are bold, and all the people portrayed have weird noses and no eyelids (with the exception of the older gentleman in the bottom left of this utility box) yet are cute and not too weird or creepy.  The overall effect is a charming and eye-catching utility box.  The  Keith-Harring-esque style works well here.

The little angel is chubby, eyelid-free, and sporting quite a leaf.

While the colours have faded and the details have flaked and weathered a bit, the spirit and joie de vivre of this utility box shines through.

The fun Vaudeville-ey pictures really spice up this corner of El Cajon Blvd.  I do love the curvy dame in front of the mic, and the jester who keeps 5 balls in the air through rain, foul weather, or 148 blearily sunny San Diego days each year.

The back side sports a grumpy looking Chaplin-like ringmaster, and a little girl with the bunny she just pulled from the top hat.  Or maybe she is trying to stuff the bunny into the top hat.  One mustn't assume.

I love this utility box.  It could be may favourite on in all of San Diego.  I am a sucker for the Vaudeville theme.  But, you know, I really love all the painted utility boxes.  They may be bush league, but they are a delight.  Who would have thought that such a conservative military town would have such an widespread and unsung cultural and artistic bounty such as this?