New Zealand Artist Turns Boring Utility Boxes Into Works Of Art

Meet Paul Walsh - a self-taught artist from Rotorua, New Zealand. Back in 2013, he painted a picture of Grumpy Cat on a wall in his local dog park. The city council painted it over, but the locals weren't having it - they petitioned the council. A friend of Walsh's posted an article about the whole ordeal in the local newspaper. That's when a telecommunications company named Chorus contacted Walsh and offered him to paint over their utility boxes instead. He agreed and thanks to this deal his art can be enjoyed not only by locals but by the whole world. Although Walsh only gets paid enough to cover time and materials, that doesn't stop him from creating - since the beginning, he painted over 50 utility boxes around New Zealand. Walsh says he likes to use various internet memes as inspiration. The boxes he paints over are New Zealanders' physical internet connections and the pictures painted "probably already been transmitted through these boxes before I painted them on the outside of them," said the artist. "They’ve had a great reception, both from the local communities and online, and I am planning to paint a lot more around the country – maybe the world!", says Walsh. We sure hope so! Check out some of the artist's amazing utility box artwork in the gallery below! More info: Paul Walsh | Instagram

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