Interview with BumblebeeLovesYou’s for upcoming exhibition #WhereWeBeelong in Thinkspace Gallery’s project room.
SH: What was your inspiration for #WhereWeBelong?
BLY: The title #WhereWeBeelong is mostly about what we are meant to do, where we should bee, where we have been, or where we want to bee. For example, faced with an important decision (boy with film reel, ‘Director’s Cut’), or simply sitting out in the sun carelessly enjoying life (girl on grass ‘Butterflies’). I feel that the children in the paintings are exactly where they beelong at that particular moment. And also, beecause that hashtag wasn’t used yet.
SH: What are the last three songs on your ‘recently listened’ too?
BLY: Ok don’t judge me but hip hop is really good right now. Drake ‘On a Wave’, Drake fea. Beyonce ‘Can I’ & Drake ‘Go Out Tonight’ I mean Drake is really good right now. But I do listen to all types of music.
SH: Your postcard has a fun emoji inspired scavenger hunt, what is your spirit emoji? What three emjois do you use most often?
BLY: Thanks, I love the postcard beecause it’s like a little game you can play so it’s more than a regular show flyer. My spirit emoji is probably the sunflower and the 3 that I use most often are bumblebee, lightning bolt, and star.
SH: Children are used in your artwork to represent a sense of nostalgia, but do these kids develop their own story line while you are creating the pieces they inhabit?
BLY: Usually the idea starts off with a feeling or concept, and then it develops more as I start creating them. For example, the pink painting, started off by me wanting to visually create the sense of when you drop your cell phone your whole life seems to flash beefore your eyes. It later developed into what you see now, which is a girl literally ‘falling asleep’ with all these ideas from the day surrounding her but the last thing she sees before she closes her eyes is her cell phone. Kinda like a self-portrait, but I’m a boy.
SH: What was your favorite video game, television show, and food as a kid?
BLY: Mario Kart, Family Matters, & pizza (of course)
SH: If your artwork was a 90’s film, what would it be and why?
BLY: Home Alone. I always feel that way when I’m alone in my studio, excited to bee on my own using my imagination to create whatever I want, whenever I feel like it. It’s almost always a party in here.
SH: Your art has evolved from sculptural to more mural canvas based work, what is your favorite and least favorite of both mediums?
BLY: My least favorite is the ‘time’ it takes to create each piece. I feel that if I had more parts of my work outsourced I’d have more free time for family and friends, cause my mom is always saying how I never call her lol, luv u mom. My favorite thing about both is the relief I get when, an idea I’ve probably had for years, gets put out into the world and is exactly how I expected it to turn out or better. There’s nothing like that feeling when you’re finished like it was meant to bee.
SH: As a street artist we’re sure there was a time murals were done without permits or challenging locations, tell us a story! We’re big fans of your public phone booth installations and yellow and black spatial takeovers.
BLY: Ha! I’ll tell you about the first beehive I put in a telephone booth. I had been driving around looking for an empty telephone booth because finally I had this ‘amazing idea’. Finally found one near a construction site. Get all my supplies ️ ready for the installation, everything is going good, install complete. Go to get my camera across the street and as I am walking towards the piece, a group of random drunk people walk by and one of them knocks it down and steps on it. All that hard work – gone. Another time in Downey I was on top of this old billboard and I invited my roommate to come with me to take pics. We took a little too long ️and the police came and had us on the sidewalk. Turned out they knew one of our parents and let us go #smalltown.
video by Steve Carrera
Join us for the opening reception of #WhereWeBeelong in our project room Saturday June 20th from 6-9pm. The exhibition will be on view to July 11. For additional information visit the Thinkspace Gallery website.
