A surface-mounted contour-fitting electronic visual display system for use on vehicles and other objects, comprising one or more flexible contour-fitting light-emitting elements that can be arranged and configured to be mountable on surfaces of vehicles and other objects, a system controller which connects to said one or more light-emitting elements by electronic wiring, cables or other suitable means, and a power source connected to said controller to power the system and said one or more light-emitting elements. The system can be used on various types of vehicles such as automobiles, buses, airplanes, trains and motorcycles, for purposes such as aesthetics, signaling or displaying instructional or informational messages and advertising. The system is also useful in military applications including camouflaging and other forms of visual disguise.