Meet The Gogglers

WE BELIEVE the world needs bright art right now and WE BELIEVE in making that art accessible to our community (and we are all "us").  So we paint radiant colorful characters bursting with positive energy and put them on functional goods, gender-neutral apparel for folks of all ages, and affordable art prints.  

Check back on this page as we introduce each of THE GOGGLERS. 

THE ORIGINAL GOGGLER

I painted THE ORIGINAL GOGGLER just as I was transitioning jobs from commissioned photography to focus on curation and my own art practice.  I was fascinated with the way automatic carwashes “throw” color onto a windshield.  One of the early — and least abstract — experiments I made in my studio (under the influence of "car wash") was this fancy-footed first GOGGLER.  I always thought of this character as a creature, but didn’t add the wiggle eyes until 2020, when THE ORIGINAL GOGGLER finally felt complete.

THE ORIGINAL GOGGLER collection can be found here. 

THE CADMIUM KID

Were there a Venn diagram of “The (Wild) West” and “Sunflowers, everywhere” The Cadmium Kid would exist in the overlap between the two, a guardian of our sunshineyness and is happiest on the eastern plains of my home state of Colorado.

Cad's favorite line of poetry is from WS Merwin’s “Thanks” poem:
“we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
thank you we are saying and waving
dark though it is”

THE CADMIUM KID collection can be found here.

BOOP

Always seen with their tiny companion, Boop floats through the galaxy with the lightness of helium and the softness of a marshmallow.  Boop brings levity when we need it, which is lots these days.

 The BOOP collection can be found here. 

SWISH

Swish is bird-like with so much sass.

Swish’s favorite quote: “‘Hope is the thing with feathers — that perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words — And never stops at all.” Emily Dickinson

Swish loves all things periwinkle, lilac, and neon orange.  

Swish watches over your confidence, and sassy sense of assertiveness. 

 The SWISH collection can be found here.

REALLY EXCITED TO BE HERE

Many years ago, when I was helping my sister move into her freshman dorm room in a new city, we saw a guy — perhaps the RA — wearing a t-shirt that said “I’m really excited to be here.” That statement seemed like the perfect antidote to anxiety, the darker side of anticipation.  I didn’t know what a mantra was at the time, but I told her to say that to herself whenever she felt nervous.  I love how REALLY EXCITED TO BE HERE seems to embody exactly that energy.  Think of REALLY EXCITED TO BE HERE as a guardian of your enthusiasm.

Find the REALLY EXCITED TO BE HERE collection here. 

MARBLE MAISY

CLOUDWALKER exists for all those day-dreamy afternoons I've stared up at the clouds wondering what would happen if they had legs ... and eyes to see by. Cloudwalker watches over our day dreams, imagination, and our wanderlust.

Find the CLOUDWALKER collection here. 

THOUGHT BUBBLES 

Deeply involved in some kind of telepathic conversation, these two, known together as THOUGHT BUBBLES, appreciate everything we say amongst ourselves without even speaking a word. 

Find the THOUGHT BUBBLES collection here. 

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP

There are all kinds of theories about how where we look affects how we feel (Brainspotting, drishtis in yoga, for example). Things Are Looking Up manifests them with an upward gaze — (or an upward goggle, if you will). We love gogglers and humans who lead by example. 

Find the THINGS ARE LOOKING UP collection here. 

SNIFFER

We humans prioritize our vision, but Sniffer reminds us that noses can be just as important as eyes. Always ready to sniff out the good things in life, Sniffer goes about nose first. 

Find the SNIFFER collection here. 

GROUPIE

 

This is what GOGGLERS look like when they pose for a "groupie" - it's a fierce and fabulous thing when they do. 

GROUPIE'S motto is WE'RE BETTER TOGETHER. 

And of course, they're right. 

Find the GROUPIE collection here.

ARGYLE 

One of our best friends rescued a little bird on Argyle Ave in Hollywood and nursed it back to health. Argyle is long gone but will be in our memories forever, and this ARGYLE reminds us a whole lot of its predecessor: spunky, sweet, and a keen observer.

 

Find the ARGYLE collection here. 

 

  

THE BLUEST CLOUDWALKER

One of the Gogglers with surprising power, THE BLUEST CLOUDWALKER honors letting our stormy and hardest emotions be seen, too. 

Find THE BLUEST CLOUDWALKER Collection here. 

YOU CAN TOUCAN

YOU CAN TOUCAN is 100% ready to cheer you on every day of the week. 

Find the YOU CAN TOUCAN Collection here.

LOOKIN' OUT

LOOKIN' OUT is always looking out -- for you! ⠀

Find the LOOKIN' OUT Collection here.

SUREFOOT

Surefoot is marching forth with sure feet in this uncertain galaxy. If you aspire to Surefoot’s courage and persistence (or you know, just love a hot pink), you might want to keep them around.

Find the SUREFOOT Collection here. 

ALL EARS

Sometimes we just need someone to come close and listen. ALL EARS is ready.

Find the ALL EARS Collection here.  

M MUSTARD

SPIKE

The SPIKE Collection can be found here. 

TANGERINE BUTTERFLY

 

With pierced ears and whirling wings, TANGERINE BUTTERFLY is the buzziest of beauties, a real flutter heart. One of the closest GOGGLERS to our heart.  Keep them close and they’ll guard your heart too …

Find the TANGERINE BUTTERFLY Collection here.  

Behind THE GOGGLERS

In the strained and waning months of 2020, and in defiance of the mood of of prevailing darkness in both the world and in my world, I began painting splash-and-drip characters, in the brightest colors I could make, and finishing them with wide-open wiggle eyes.  They were born of my own deep longing for lightness and color—color the world needs right now, and needs always. They were born, too, of my longing for good company and shared humor — a sense of community we all have spent so much of the last year and a half missing.  I meditate constantly on how there is no “them” — in fact, WE ARE ALL US.  Who we are to each other is everything. And I wanted to feel like someone was looking out for me — and for all of us—guarding the things worth saving.  In other words, despite arriving unplanned, these little critters are no accident.

“To goggle” means to look with wide open eyes, usually in wonder or amazement.  So I named these creatures, “THE GOGGLERS,” — defining them as those who look with wide open eyes.  THE GOGGLERS are good-humored, full of splattery, positive energy and, as magical creatures, surely capable of guarding our human magic.  THE GOGGLERS are the antidote I fashioned for living in this beautiful, broken world.

I had also yearned for something to share with the community—my other artwork lives mostly in private spaces and all but one of the art collections I’ve built for people exist in private space—I wanted to make something that leaned out of the so-called art world and leaned into the democratization of the enjoyment of art. 

Around the same time I started painting GOGGLERS, I also began bringing painted rocks with wiggle eyes on my runs and leaving them in the take-one-leave-one art rock pile at the end of the bike path that someone started at the beginning of the pandemic.  My rock gogglers were always gone by the next morning.  Other folks left chalk drawings on the bike path, often featuring encouraging sayings or sketches of rainbows.  Someone just recently put styrofoam eyes on a few of the plants. (Yes, my neighbors are rad). There’s something really satisfying about making art for someone who you will never see enjoy it. Imagining the joy it’ll bring is a sweet kind of reward. Perhaps the pandemic made us open to exactly that in a way I hadn’t focused on before. A good shared laugh over artwork is a great way to feel the connections between us.

One way to democratize the enjoyment of art is to make open edition multiples, and include small, affordable sizes.  I thought about how sweet, how fun (!), how very happy a room (maybe a child's room!) would feel brightened by the sunshiney energy of THE GOGGLERS. 

Another way to make art more accessible is to put it onto functional goods.  I began imagining t-shirts with GOGGLERS facing out, guarding our hearts.  I pictured how easily someone could summon a smile at a cell phone camera with a GOGGLER peering out at them. 

So that’s where we’re starting: with apparel for humans of all ages, with phone cases, and with prints.  We humans have lots of work still to do to change our world for good. Let's carry on in color.  xo, gg. & THE GOGGLERS

Sustainability & Our Work

We print each item, just for you, when you place an order.  This reduces waste at every level of the supply chain. 

We print our apparel on high quality blank apparel from Bella+Canvas—a fellow Los-Angeles based company well-loved for their superb fabrics, eco-friendly dye & manufacturing processes, and no sweatshop/ platinum WRAP certified work environment policies.

All shipments are carbon neutral. 

We like to work with people who treat people like people and our planet with love.

Copyright

Copyright 2021, Loggia Art Inc.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.