Caley Costley aka Bob Bleu is a street art photographer and art lover from Los Angeles who also creates wonderful works of art herself as a digital artist. On her Instagram channel you will find great urban art from the Californian city on the one hand, but also creative collages that she designs in her own comic style. In doing so, she often makes herself a comic figure and combines photographs that have been taken with these digital gimmicks. The result is interesting, colorful and warm-hearted, as well she often tries to draw attention to socially relevant issues through those creative messages.
On Caley’s channel on Facebook and Instagram you will regularly get content on urban art, but also on architecture, street life or political and social thematics. The visual artist and photographer not only provides information on her channels about the artists and backgrounds of works of art, but now also here with us in the Vagabundler project for the Streetart Map Los Angeles. We are very happy to have Caley on our creative international collective!
On the Los Angeles Map, like on all the other maps, individual works of art are set with markers at the respective locations, but otherwise there are also pages for each quarter or city district with the collected works from this area.
Los Angeles is just huge. Super huge! We have the exact locations for many works of art. With the larger works and the big murals it is of course easy, but we were also often able to find the exact spot even for many of the smaller creations. There are individual collection pages for the several neighborhoods, districts or suburbs, in which the works in the area are listed and also the works that we could not locate exactly on the map. Step by step there will be new artworks and markers added, so check on it time by time, we are continously working on this project here.
We asked Caley a few questions about her passion for photography and her own creative collage creation:
Did you take photos first or was the collage work before? Or did both come at the same time?
I’ve been taking photos since I was eight years old when I got my first camera. I also took photography class in school. The collage work came later when I got my first smartphone ten years ago.
Do you only make digital collages or do you also create works of art with materials?
The digital art is my favorite, no mess but I do paint with watercolor on canvas.
Tell us a little more precisely how you make your collages. You take photos you did and then you change them and make other self-designed obejcts on it? Another trademark is that you mostly put a kind of comic figure of yourself in the picture, right?
For the collages, I take the photo then add the art on top. I draw the character, cut it out and make a sticker then it’s easy to put on the photo. All done digitally.
What do you like about photography? In addition to street art, you also capture a lot of other interesting things in the city.
I love photography. I like taking pictures of weird, interesting and beautiful things in life.
What do you especially like about urban art, graffiti and creations on the street? What do you sense interesting about it?
I like urban art, graffiti art because it’s something interesting to see. You can be driving or walking somewhere and suddenly see some new street art and that’s pretty cool.
A lot of times you also include little messages in your creations. Little hints to make people think about an issue or to make other aware of something. Tell us more about this.
I do leave little messages in my art to make people think, laugh or just smile, hopefully brighten someone’s day.
Which are your favorite urban artists? Name us some of the ones you like the most.
I’ve liked Banksy for a long time… but there are so many great urban artists out there.
Where do you like to go for photographing urban art in Los Angeles? Which spots can you recommend for other visitors?
I like taking photos all over Los Angeles. I’m always looking for new urban art… it’s everywhere. I recommend Downtown Los Angeles and Venice Beach.
Do you have recommendable galleries in Los Angeles which show as well streetart and graffiti works?
Check out galleries in the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District.
What about jams and festivals? I am sure you have a lot in Los Angeles. Which ones do you like and can you recommend?
There are lots of music venues in L.A. My favorite is „The Bullet L.A.“… because I work there. A great place to see a concert is, The Greek Theatre.
Why do you think it is important to have urban art in a city?
I think urban art brings something new and interesting to a city.
Which place on the world would you like to visit for photographing streetart?
I’d like to visit, Germany!
LOS ANGELES URBAN ART COLLECTIONS
INFOTHEK
Photographer: CALEY COSTLEY aka BOB BLEU
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobbleu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caley.costley
Streetart Map Los Angeles: https://vagabundler.com/usa/streetart-map-los-angeles
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