Against the cold, gray, bleak background of Brooklyn in January, colorful things, and literally anything with the smallest hint of cheer, are sure to stand out. That’s why you may have taken a step back when confronted with the bright, cartoony, bubblegum-pink gums with pearly white teeth lining the top of buildings or plastered on walls all around Brooklyn in the past few weeks. So who is this person painting grins on all of your buildings?

You have London-based street artist Sweet Toof to thank for these paintings, and for putting that smile on your face as you drudge to the finicky L train in nine degree weather. The artist was in town for three months creating work for his show “Derailed” at Pandemic Gallery. The show is closed now, but there is a lot to know about the artist as you see his pieces pop up in  Brooklyn, and soon all over the world.

If you ask Sweet Toof where the gum and tooth motif came from, you’ll likely get a different answer each time. When I interviewed him back in 2011, he cited a series of untimely deaths of friends that started the fascination with skeletons, and also his hobby collecting bones in art school as subject matter for his paintings. He mentioned a fascination with teeth, how they are the only visible part of a skeleton, and how they’re kind of a constant reminder of death. This time around he mentioned a love for “bringing something that’s dead back to life, and giving them a story.”  Looking at this symbol over and over, in paintings, carved in wood, plastered on buildings, and even made of clay, it’s clear that no matter what the initial fascination stems from, the artist continues to entertain his curiosity of the morbid juxtaposed against the bright and happy cartoon feel of the teeth. “I just like seeing stuff with energy and sort of, spontaneous stuff and stuff you can see people had fun doing or makes you laugh, sometimes people can be a bit serious,” the artist said, summing up the joy of his work.