Find Out if This Artist Is Bringing Geodes to Your City’s Streets
Urban areas tend to be drab with not a lot of life and barely any color. But if you are like artist Paige Smith, aka A Common Name, you see beauty in everything and in every place. Since 2011, A Common Name has created street art for specific locations, hiding small crystallized geodes in unexpected places in locations around the world.
As seen on BoredPanda, A Common Name takes inspiration from modest, tucked-away places. The LA artist strives to transform areas with her art, creating pieces that go against the rules of nature. For the past four years, A Common Name has sought cracks in the foundation, cement walls and the insides of pipes and cans on which to affix these brightly colored jewels.
Real geodes are created by the earth, and A Common Name’s art project shows the juxtaposition between nature and man. She creates her pieces using man-made materials such as spray paint on paper or resin molded silicon to mimic the mineral’s rough pattern. Then she places them in industrial areas, filling in the broken spots with surprising bright colors.
Her work doesn’t last forever, much like everything else in life. And that is exactly how A Common Name wants it. This shows that nothing is permanent and you should stop and enjoy the moment.
Her installations are gaining popularity. She has created pieces in Madrid, Los Angeles, Bali, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Istanbul. She has gained quite the following all around the world, especially since starting the beta program that allows people to install a geode in their city just by signing up, which is such a cool way to allow others to participate in her movement. There are now complementary pieces in Australia, France, Jordan, Turkey, South Africa and Korea, each adding beauty to an otherwise bleak canvas.
Have you seen any of these geodes in your city? Upload your pictures in the comments below!
(feature image via @commonname)