Today we’d like to introduce you to Bumblebee Lovesyou.
Hello Bumblebee Lovesyou, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I started in 2006. Streetart wasn’t really a the way to describe what I was doing at the time. People considered it vandalism or graffiti, but it was neither. The internet was finally fully accessible to me, and I was looking at what the Europeans were doing on the graffiti blogs, and that led me to a website called ‘Wooster Collective’ which was based in New York. That site was dedicated to ‘street interventions’ or ‘urban art.’ This type of art was stuff like ‘yarn bombing’ and ‘geocaching’. I remember being like, wow I can totally do something cool like that. And so I started making paper maché beehives out of the phone book and placing them into abandoned phone booths; this was around 2008. Meanwhile, I had been developing my own style of stenciling these ‘cool kids’ playing on the street. And then eventually, someone had asked me if I could paint one of these kids on their building on La Cienaga and beverly. At the time, I believed, and still do, that all art should have meaning, so I dedicated my new ‘kid’ series to raise awareness about youth homelessness. I got the chance to paint ‘sleeping kids’ around the city just as a way to comment on the situation at the time, not knowing that this would be one of the most serious problems the city would face in the upcoming decade, which we are in now. In about 2014, I really wanted to focus my artwork on being more about positivity. I wanted people to view my work as ‘playful’ and ‘whimsical’. Also, at the time, social media was finally getting its’ legs up and running, and people started to take pics of my work. I knew that this was something I could potentially do for a living so basically, one wall led to another, and since then my work has been very well received by any community I work in. And I think the reason for that is because I don’t have any sort of political agenda or anything clever to say. My work is purely based off that nostalgic feeling you get when you see kids doing what they do best like discovering the world around them and playing with friends. The paintings I make are giant and makes even the oldest people feel like a kid again.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Life as an artist is never smooth. It was very difficult at first to even have a steady girlfriend. You could imagine that dating a ‘street artist’ wasn’t something you could bring home to mom or dad. But I’ll tell you what, I completely lucked out when I met my wife, she was totally accepting of me as an artist and my work schedule. After she whipped me into shape, lol, and started making me wake up and go to sleep at certain times, my life completely changed from complete chaos into organization and cleanliness. I know the question isn’t about my wife, but it’s necessary to explain so that you’ll understand that my life before I met her was kind of insane and all over the place. Deadlines were always depressing instead of a challenge, and sometimes even creating used to feel like a curse instead of a blessing. I’m being over dramatic, but as an artist, you have to realize that there is no directions, no 9-5 work week, and since our careers are based off of momentum, we are constantly having to one-up ourselves every time. So, I guess the biggest challenge to an artist is ourselves and the road we create for ourselves.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in creating site-specific murals for schools, businesses, and commercial and private real estate. These murals represent the community they are made for and play off of the existing architectural structures. When you see my work, I think people often think of nostalgia and whimsy. It’s very playful and may depict kids doing fun things like ‘throwing a paper airplane’ or simply a ‘girl on a swing.’ I think what I’m most proud of doing is being able to raise money for those in need. Every year I try to do at least one charity event. I think it’s amazing that I can create something that people will rally behind for a good cause. For example, in 2021, I raised $10k for families in need of healthcare. It may be small comparatively, but for me not too long ago, I didn’t even have $10k to my name.
My work is very unique in the fact that I try to remember what it was like to be a kid and translate that feeling into an image. I think my work resonates with people because when they see it, no matter how old they are the work makes them feel like a kid again but without feeling cheesy or obvious. There’s not much to it where you have to think about it, so it’s not pretentious, and it’s not abstract. I think it’s very direct but still up to the viewer to relate to. And I think we can all relate to it because, not too long ago, we were all once a kid.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
As an artist during the Covid times, I’ve learned a lot about the way I work. One of the things is that I now know that it’s better to take the 10 seconds it takes to put a brush back in the water to keep it from drying out rather than letting dry out and having to buy a new one. During covid, it sucked. You couldn’t even walk into an art store let alone purchase something you needed. So many things were out of stock, including some paints and the brushes I’ve used. I guess it’s led me to take the steps and be more prepared for things that can potentially happen.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @bumblebeelovesyou
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bumblebeelovesme
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bumblebeelovesyou
