Paige Smith’s Urban Geode project fills up the cracks and decayed spaces of Los Angeles with sparkling paper ‘geodes’, imitations of the crystal formations that occur naturally in volcanic rock.
They are a part of a vibrant street art scene in LA, which mirrors growing popularity for the art around the world. Influential street art appears around the city, including works by Banksy, and there is even Lab Art, a street art gallery.
Paige Smith is a graphic designer who found herself getting more involved in street art after finding she wanted to "stare at a computer less", and wants the geode project to be something beneficial for the community she lives in.
Smith told HuffPost UK: “I clean out the crumbling infrastructures, and the trash people have filled them with, and replace it with these glittering paper shapes. I have a simple message - stop and enjoy your surroundings, notice the little things; whether they are beautiful, artistic, or even crumbling in an interesting way.”
She wants to get the project into galleries and “fill interior spaces without restrictions or rules that say they have to be placed in any one kind of environment”.
Nice as it would be to be able to see these getting gallery recognition, on the streets these geodes are far more effective, and surprising.
The geode project reminds us of the old childhood feeling that every crack or crevice could be full of adventure.
We’ve seen before that street art can be beautiful and other worldly, Urban Geode takes this to the next level.
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