Nate Swain wants to turn Boston into an outdoor art museum

Artist Nate Swain thinks there are too many blank, boring walls around Boston — and he wants to spruce them up with the help of area artists by plastering them with massive murals.

With a background in landscape architecture, Swain said he’d like to turn the city into an outdoor museum.

“You could have surprises around every corner,” said Swain. “Like a visual theme park.”

Swain wants to paint murals on mountable, vinyl material that could be swapped out at anytime and replaced with newer artwork from a range of local photographers or painters.

One space Swain would like to see get revamped are the TD Garden, which Swain said he would turn “inside-out” with a mural of a cheering crowd.

Another spot is the NStar substation on High Street, which Swain wants to retrofit with a view of the Arnold Arboretum.

“You could escape all the brick and mortar in the city and have these vistas that kind of take you away for a bit,” he said.

Swain has already installed artwork on vacant walls in the North End and has been working on a 30-by-70 vinyl mural with students from Roxbury that will cover offensive graffiti.

Follow Steve Annear on Twitter @steveannear