Philly Chunk Pack – 13th Street between Walnut and Sansom, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, the fifth-largest city in the United States, prides itself on its public art. In 1872 the Fairmount Art Association was the first private body in the US to focus on integrating art into public planning. It continues to commission works and claims there are 1,700 pieces in the city and its network of 63 neighbourhood and regional parks. Philadelphia was also the first American city to legislate a percentage garnish on development projects, which has resulted in the siting of more than 200 works. The streets and other public spaces of Philadelphia contain pieces by Oldenburg, Remington and Calder, among almost 400 artists. Philadelphia is also considered to be one of the mural capitals of the world. Its Mural Arts Program (MAP) is the largest public arts program in the USA. It is responsible for the creation of over 3,000 murals throughout the city.

The real estate developer Tony Goldman, who died in 2012, was largely responsible for the transformation of 13th Street in Center City, Philadelphia. Towards the end of his life, he collaborated with the Mural Arts Program to endow the city with imaginative works of contemporary art by highly regarded artists. The Goldman-Mural Arts collaboration began in the summer of 2011 with the installation of "Philly Chunk Pack," by Brooklyn-based artist Kenny Scharf. The artist worked with 15 students enrolled in the Mural Arts Program’s Big Picture project. The graffiti-inspired mural, located on a wall above Graffiti Bar at 120 South 13th Street, between Walnut and Sansom, is a contemporary scene of cartoon-like characters painted with bright, acrylic spray paint. Scharf explains that the mural is "Inspired by all the colourful characters in Philadelphia – there seem to be a lot of them here – and also by the wall itself and how it is viewed from the street."