Happy Little Guys
Works by Little Bloops
Blue Orchid Pan Asian Cuisine
130 Court St.
Through Jan. 31
The two paintings hanging side by side operate as two lenses on the same art. On the left, a series of cloudlike shapes in an array of fantastical colors, floating serenly against a vibrant, wavering background. The title of the piece, Bloops and Waves, isn’t just descriptive. It suggests that we need look no deeper than the piece’s surface; everything we need is there.
The piece on the right deploys the same style to different effect. There’s the same bright background and fun abstract shapes. But then, what is manifestly an egg with limbs. One hand is holding a spoon. The other is holding a frying pan with a smiling figure in it. Why is that pink person smiling? Are they unaware of what appears to be their imminent cooking? Or are they welcoming it? Or something else, a little bit of both? The title of that piece — Feeling Fried, or Happy Fried-Day — offers only more ambiguity, a comment about exhaustion delivered as a cheap pun. It’s not serious. Or is it?
“Happy Little Guys” — a show of works by the artist Little Bloops in the gallery at Blue Orchid Pan Asian Cuisine on Court Street — offers the same jolt of disorientation from piece to piece. In one piece, a long vertical scroll, candy colors flow down from the sky into a grateful landscape. But just to the side of the scroll, a black and white figure carries a mischievous grin and a large pair of scissors, ready to cut the scene to pieces. In another one, a creature made of iridescent sludge sports a hat and tie with the sardonic title It’s Not Gaudy If You’re Rich. In another, a few Crayola-colored characters sport with a cactus that looks like it could pop them if they get too close.
The pseudonymous artist explains in a statement that the mixed feelings in the pieces come straight out of the artistic process.
“little bloops came out of drawing with a pen,” the artist writes. “perfectionism (combined with art school, pandemic, and undiagnosed adhd) had put me at a point of artistic burnout. maybe out of boredom (or an unquashed but well beaten enjoyment of bright colors, silly shapes, and glitter) i bought a pack of bright gel pens and began to doodle, not aiming for perfection — I drew shapes with colors I found enjoyable in the moment. what came out was little bloops. pens and markers are unerasable on paper, so my perfectionism was forced to deal.”
For Bloops, having to deal with the imperfections appears also to have unleashed a sly sense of humor. Is the titular character in Friend to All Bovines really that cow’s friend? On one hand, the artist’s keen sense of whimsy would suggest we read no deeper. “what is a bloop? it’s a little guy existing. I like the idea that somewhere out there, there are happy little guys,” Bloops writes. “while not all bloops are having the best day, they exist perfectly content in themselves and are left unbothered.”
But for Bloops, there’s much more going on. Without warning, in their artistic statement, they write that “the current administration has opened the floodgates in their attacks against marginalized communities and minorities. slithering hatred dances unchecked as pen strokes strip the rights, safety, and peace of the most vulnerable. absurdity passes for law as we fight to exhaustion to protect each other.” Meanwhile, “little bloops are about bringing joy. ‘happy little guys’ is a collection of happy bloops existing for the joy of the viewer. no deeper meaning than taking a rest and finding a moment of joy.”
The sudden outpouring of political rage and concern for community feels of a part with the art, and suggests something deeper and sharper going on than just escapism. Or maybe escapism itself has more going on in it than we give it credit for. One can stare into the abyss of current events — the parade of headlines that we risk succumbing to in some way or another, by going crazy, going under, going numb — and still create playful works of art that just “exist for the joy of the viewer.” That act has its own small, special power. It can remind people why they resist, and show them the strength in persistence and survival, too. No matter how grim the present day can feel, especially to those caught in the crosshairs, somewhere there’s a rainbow flame burning bright, and it can’t ever be fully put out.
