Kids and bees and yellow and black stripes

Tonight was the screening of the Bumblebeelovesyou film documentary at the Epic Lounge in downtown Downey. (More on filmmaker Julian Park tomorrow.) Bumblebee is a street artist from Downey, whose work we have posted about several times over the last year.

In addition to the screening, Bumblebee had numerous small works on display and for sale. (His street art is not small—his latest is 18 feet tall!) The works were done on a variety of surfaces, and they were all intriguing, as you can see by the close attention paid by the man above.

Bumblebee's work usually portrays children and nearly always includes his signature stripes of yellow and black—and of course some bees. The young girl at left certainly came dressed for the occasion!

Bumblebee says that he overcame his family's initial skepticism to become successful as an artist. He views his street art as a gift to the community, and his art sales help finance this gift, according to this article in the Downey Patriot.

I'm glad to be one of the lucky recipients of that gift.

Bionicos

I was pleasantly surprised to see that this "Bumblebee" wall art survived when a Bionicos business went in. It actually made me smile to see they had painted around her. I'm not sure where the pink bunny came from...but clearly the owners didn't think of the picture as a "bee" problem. See a related post from last year.

Bionicos is a tiny shop that (according to the sign) serves juices, smoothies, snow cones and fruit desserts, Latin-American style. I didn't have time to go in today, but I'm thinking this will be the perfect snack tomorrow.

Beelieve it or not

Another Bumblebee image! I'm always on the lookout for more pictures from street artist Bumblebee. They are usually found on the sides of abandoned buildings, and they are always engaging and a little sad. According to Bumblebee, his paintings reflect his message of  innocence and coming of age. The bees represent vulnerability.

For more Bumblebee pictures, see a previous post from last June. Or click here to see our first set of Bumblebee sightings.

P. S. If you want to go by and see this one, it's on Firestone Blvd. on the side of the vacant storefront next to Steve's Locks.

No more bee problem

Maybe it seems odd for me to take a picture of an unattractive vacant lot with this newly painted half wall.

A few months ago we posted a blog about this wall because both sides contained charming pictures of a little girl dressed in yellow surrounded by bees. And, it caused a lot of buzz in town due to people stopping by to see the pictures after an article came out in the local Patriot newspaper.

Originally, we thought the pictures might be the work of Banksy—a British street artist. After further investigation, we found it instead to be credited to "Bumblebee," a Los Angeles street artist. Now, I know this is private property and the owners clearly have the right to paint over something they might consider to be vandalism or graffiti. But, I have to admit, I was disappointed to discover that the charming stencil artwork of the little girl had been removed. Somehow for me, the bee artwork humanized the ugliness of the half wall left standing in this lot. In fact, I went out of my way just the other day to see it. I guess it's another reminder that all things change...and therein lies the sting.

Did Banksy leave his mark in Downey?

I couldn't resist seeking out these pictures after reading about them in the Patriot . Banksy, a British street artist (read tagger) has been around since the early 90's. He's known for his distinctive stencil artwork which he has painted in cities around the world. We don't know if this is his work in Downey, but it was fun to search for  different paintings today and to discover we weren't alone in our quest. It seems quite a few of our Downey neighbors read the paper and had the same idea. There was a small crowd already gathered as we arrived at the first sight.

At the last sight, after spending several minutes maneuvering my car around so we could climb up to take a picture above the chain link, I looked down to notice a significant opening in the corner section of the fence- big enough to climb through easily...I always consider that an invitation.

Postscript: Further Googling indicates that the graffiti is the work of Los Angeles street artist Bumblebee. See this interview for more information.