A City of Toronto maintenance worker has been channeling his inner Jackson Pollock to jazz up local street fixtures, maybe.

That, or someone wasn't paying very close attention to their task of repainting fire hydrants and ended up making a mess on the sidewalk.

Either way, this isn't what hydrants are supposed to look like (though, as some argue, maybe they should.)

Are you inspired by abstract expressionism? The City of Toronto needs your help painting fire hydrants. pic.twitter.com/WrHg0F7sER

— Josh Matlow (@JoshMatlow) December 2, 2017

Toronto City Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22) tweeted a picture of a fire hydrant with yellow paint splashed all around its base on Saturday.

"Are you inspired by abstract expressionism?," he wrote. "The City of Toronto needs your help painting fire hydrants."

Matlow was clearly joking, but the tweet inspired a lot of retweets, like and replies from people concerned about or amused by the image.

pic.twitter.com/oSh2isOMJh

— John Wright (@JohnWrightLive) December 4, 2017

"Some Unionized City employee likely made about $63 in wages doing this fine paint job," tweeted one person.

"I was once told it would be 'too much work' to paint the curb 3m in either direction from the hydrant," wrote another. "Well... looks like they have the paint to do it anyway."

One woman said that the sidewalks were similarly messy all the way down Mount Pleasant. She called the sight "Disgraceful!"

Perhaps in the future workers will lay down drop sheets before they paint. After all, there's a chance that someone might want to buy them afterwards for many millions of dollars. Maybe.