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Bumblebee, a Los Angeles-based artist, has been turning abandoned telephone booths into works of art. After a recent trip to San Francisco, he struck one booth on Minna, above.
Here's how Bumblebee explains his work:
Telephone companies have been abandoning their public telephone booths by taking out the phones and leaving the structures beehind. (Probably due to the rise in cell phone users.) I want to reuse these structures as a way of communication with the public once more by replacing that empty space with paper-mache beehives. To me, this symbolizes the irony beehind the question, 'where have so many of the bees gone' and the theory that cell phone signals have been misguiding their normal patterns of migration
Sadly, the paper-mache beehive, which can be seen here and here, is missing. If you come across this phone booth, we implore you to add a yellow lantern to it.
Update: Since your Editor, it seems, is blind on a Scott MacIntyre-like level, he couldn't see that a black lantern was already in the phone booth. Cute!
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Vandalism is still vandalism, even if the perpitrator takes the time to make up a cute story to go along with it. Does "Bumblebee" own these phone booths? If not, then what he is doing is a crime regardless of whether or not we appreciate the end result on an aesthetic level. What is the alternative? Would you advocate some sort of comission to decide which instances of "guerilla art" should be considered vandalism, and which should be considered appropriate artistic expression? However, referring to the phone booth in the photo on it as a "work of art" is a stretch, to say the least.
But then again, you appear to be a tool fan post-aenima, so I won't consider your opinion.
You gotta be kidding me! Are you all a bunch of pac heights/noe valley yuppies or what? What a bunch of squares!
Not a single comment about how empty phone booths are the epitome of the social divestment/privatization we've enacted since the reagan era began: no public anything. I find it disgusting that all our phone booths-- supposedly "public," but still of course owned and operated by the AT$T's and Verizons of the world-- forcing everyone who may need to use a phone away from home to cut a check to those same massive companies every month.
Truly, we are all suckers, and the demise of the public phone booth is really the least of the evidence for this.
You may be right, the gesture of this art may not necessarily be impressive, however I find the concept totally brilliant. In fact, I'm shocked that this is the first time I've seen any guerrilla art that draws attention to our giving up our public phones. ....and all you tools cry "VANDALISM"... haha, as if Verizon gives a shit about their abandoned phone booths.
The only reason many public phones exist at all anymore (or new ones are installed) is for the advertising revenue that the back and sides of the structures generate for a city. I doubt that the phone companies are even contractually required to keep the units operational. In light of the communication carnage with Verizon in the South Bay today, it's something that might be good to address with your local supervisor. (Yeah, like that would accomplish anything.)
You may have a point.
I think I see a black bee hive in the photo. The hives are one thing, but the dumping of paint all over the place makes the addition seem like just ugly vandalism.
i do not understand what all the buzz is about
shazam!
Wow, conceptual art disguised as vandalism by an asian middle school student. Hot (not).
Brock - I'm calling you out on this one. when I see "Bumblebee strikes SF" on my RSS feeder I damn well better be getting a juicy Jen Siebel-Newsom story when I click through.
Sorry, this just looks like crap vandalism and yellow paint splattered everywhere. It might not be bad if the guy actually had some talent but this? It's just something where the rest of us will get stuck paying for the clean-up.
This guy has obviously never seen a real bee hive. Bees don't fling bright yellow honey everywhere.
Having looked at the 'flicker set' of Bumblee' Bee's work, I believe this is the work of a copycat. All of the original artist's 'hives' are yellow not black.
On one hand that must be cool for the 'artist' and jack up his street cred' a notch or so.
But on the other hand how sad is it to copycat vandalism?
At least the Bumblee Bee's look good and are creative and could can be considered 'street art' even if it is vandalism.
That though is just a mess.
Calling this "guerilla" art is an insult to gorillas.
I've shat better looking "art" than that mess.
crummy art. looks like it smells like urine