Crab Bench
Tom Bob · La Mer, Dubai · 2018
Photo as published on Street Art Utopia.
New York street artist Tom Bob turned a wooden bench at La Mer in Dubai into a grinning red crab in 2018: the bench is the body, and painted legs and claws spread across the decking around it. Source Source Source Checked
Seen Mar 2018: the newest dated evidence we found is Beware’s before-and-after photo pair, captioned 25 March 2018 (published 19 July 2018). We found nothing newer, so we cannot say whether the crab is still there. Source Unconfirmed
💡 4 things to know
- A bench is the bodyTom Bob’s own post shows the crab made from a bench at La Mer, Dubai. Source Reported
- The claws are on the floorBefore-and-after photos show the plain bench, then the same bench painted red with legs and claws spread over the boards. Source Checked
- Tagged Dubai CanvasTom Bob tagged his 24 March 2018 post with La Mer and Dubai Canvas, the city’s 3D art festival. Source Reported
- Meant to stayThe National reported in March 2018 that Tom Bob’s work would stay at La Mer after the festival, and described him as having transformed a bench into a crab. Source Reported
📍 Where it is
La Mer, the beachfront development in Dubai. The sources do not give the bench’s exact spot. Source Source Checked
Opens a map of La Mer; the exact bench is not marked.
🗓️ Sightings
- 201811 Mar
The National: his works to stay at La Mer
- 201824 Mar
Tom Bob posts the crab bench · post date
- 201819 Jul
Beware shows it before and after · photos captioned 25 Mar
Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.
🗞️ In the sources
“He has transformed a bench into a crab, a drain cover into a squashed fly and a park bench into a crocodile.”
✅ The facts
- Title
- No official title found; “Crab Bench” is a descriptive name Source Unconfirmed
- Status today
- Not known; newest dated evidence March 2018 Source Unconfirmed
🔗 Related
All sources & image credits
- The National: The five 3D murals set to become permanent fixtures at Dubai’s La Mer (11 March 2018)
- TN: Las intervenciones de un artista callejero que la rompen en Instagram (3 July 2018), with Tom Bob’s post of 24 March 2018
- Beware Magazine: Tom Bob, redessiner la ville (19 July 2018)
- Hero image: as published on Street Art Utopia; a 16:9 share image was made from it with blurred sides.
Last checked: 5 November 2026. How we verify art