bumblebeewagon Like so much of graffiti, today’s story speculating that the auteur whose stenciled street illustrations have been appearing around Downey just possibly-might-maybe be Banksy was a bunch of stuff we threw against the wall to see what stuck. Sometimes there’s just no other way.

It didn’t take long for the removal crew to arrive. Within a few hours, several commenters—here on Greater Long Beach and over on The Downey Patriot, where the story of Downey’s mysterious street art originated with the alert reporting of Christian Brown—had covered up our uncertain scrawlings and replaced them with the firm lines of Truth.

This stuff isn’t by Banksy, the famously anonymous British artist who was the subject of the just-Oscar-nominated documentary, Exit Through The Gift Shop.

It’s by Bumblebee, born-and-raised in Downey (exit at Firestone) who has been building such a high profile in the downlow world of street art—not only painting on walls, but sculpting in abandoned phone booths and newsracks—that he has recently brought his stuff into galleries.

“Yes, it’s Bumblebee and he is from Downey,” said Sebastian Buck, the British-born but Los Angeles-based curator of the street-art website, Unurth, which has published an informative interview with Bumblebee that also features a colorful collection of his breathtaking work. “But I don’t know if I should say more—I don’t know to what extent he keeps his ID hidden.”

All this secrecy is not precociousness—well, not only precociousness. No matter how beautiful or profound the work, street art is often categorized as the crime of vandalism.

“Bumblebee has definitely been active on the street for several years—I don’t know exactly how long,” said Buck. “He does a lot of stencils, which is probably what you’ve seen if you thought it looks like Banksy. But he has also done a lot of installations; he’s probably best known for the papier-mâché beehives that he has placed in abandoned phone booths—it’s his commentary on how the decline in public pay phones has mirrored the decline of bee populations.”

Bumblebee’s first solo gallery show—called “Bedbugs”—was last October 9-10 at the Beyond Eden show in Los Angeles’ Barnsdall Art Park. It sold out on the first night.

“He’s definitely a talented guy,” says Buck, “and definitely someone to watch.”

Of course, first you’ve got to find him.

For starters, try Unurth’s Q&A.