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VANCOUVER I The city's gloomy skyline is about to receive a shot of colour as hundreds of dazzling artworks are strung up for the 50th annual street banners display.

"I decided I had to do something very colourful, because the city is so rainy, so cloudy," said Vancouver artist Bratsa Bonifacho, at the unveiling of his works at city hall Tuesday.

And he has: the six works -- which will be hung in various combinations this summer along the Burrard and Cambie street bridges, Georgia and Burrard streets and the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts -- are bursting with neon pinks, electric blues and brilliant oranges.

The intricate banners, composed of grids of stylized letters and symbols, come from a series entitled Habitat Pixel, which is inspired by a virus that invaded Bonifacho's computer.

Rather than frustration, Bonifacho was seized with fascination when "the whole screen jammed with numbers and pixels."

The final works look cryptic, and they are: Bonifacho said the banners are encoded with secret messages.

"But I'm never going to reveal it," he said with a laugh.

"It could be Latin, it could be French. It could be Chinese."

At Tuesday's unveiling, Mayor Sam Sullivan presented Bonifacho with a $1,500 honorarium and thanked him for creating "a visual feast for the pure enjoyment of the public."

The tradition of Vancouver street banners dates back to the B.C. Centenary in 1958, when a team spruced up the city by flying banners as well as stringing strands of dogwood blossoms over Granville and Hastings streets and floated a dragon on Lost Lagoon.

Jack Shadbolt, Tony Onley, Gordon Smith and Bill Reid are among the artists whose works have been displayed on the banners over the years.