Street Artist Replaces 20 City Shadows With Flowers and Monkeys, and Many Didn't Even Notice

There's something weird going on in Redwood City: Bike racks, mailboxes, and parking meters are casting shadows in the shapes of flowers, monsters, and monkeys. It's all the work of Northern California artist Damon Belanger, who was commissioned to paint 20 fake shadows in the city's downtown area.

The Redwood City Development Association donated $30,000 to the city to bring more creativity to the area, inspire other street artists, and entertain passersby. Belanger completed one of the projects.

The artist explains: “Shadows add life to boring, everyday things and bring a little fun into the everyday lives of city dwellers.”

The painted shadows blended organically into the urban environment, and many passersby didn't even notice them at first glance. The author of the photographs, Beth Mostovoy, witnessed how one man was shown the shadows in the form of flowers by his little daughter: he himself didn't see anything unusual around him.

First, Belanger uses a stencil to trace the outline of the design onto the sidewalk, then paints it over with dark gray.