I dunno. Much as I like Banksy, isn't that just calling attention to the ugly necessity? Why not paint the drain pipe to match the wall instead? It's kind of like those wooden paper towel holders from the seventies, that said "papertowels," like duh! Just looked worse for calling out the item.

cute and whimsical.

If the image doesn't makeover the ugly object into a piece of beauty then yes. In your papertowel example, "papertowels" does not make the piece pretty, maybe quirky, but not pleasing to the eye.

In this case, the artwork makes the drainpipe part of a mural. When looking at it, you see a girl on a slide, not a drainpipe.

Granted this is just a first glance. If I lived with the drainpipe for years and then put the painting on it, I might feel differently.

I like this a lot.

a little imagination goes a long way

i think this works because it is meant to be "stumbled upon". a little cheer in an unexpected place.

if it was more out there (like on a garage door) it wouldn't work at all; the cuteness would read like a "hang in there" kitty poster. here it's just enough to make this cynic smile.

There's something about this that doesn't seem clever enough to be an original Banksy work. Maybe it's just one of his more "cutesy" pieces...

Oh wow! What a splendid idea! Makes me wonder if I could use decals on the ugly, grey walls of my patio...

I suppose they would not be rain resistant? Has anyone tried that?

I think that hiding/comoflaging the inner workings of a system (another example being the built-into-the-floor heating systems common in modern and most u.s. homes) is given far too much time and effort. It is far more beautiful seeing the housing of a system within a system. This banksy(esque?) mural does certainly evoke a smile and feeling of whimsy, though I think the drainpipe is still beautiful as it is

I love this, and yeah, I agree with happyhome's assessment... it works because it's surprising. And, there are pretty and functional and non-cheesy paper towel holders, though I encourage everyone here to use more cloth rags.

man do i love banksy

I took this photo when I was living in East London. Banksy did a lot of his early work around the area and, although not up to the standard of some of his later stuff, clearly reflects his use of the urban environment as context for his pieces.

Interestingly enough, these older pieces used to be painted over but now they are protected with perspex screens and actually add value to the properties.