Art: Cruise Bogle

BY DAVID ROLLAND

PHOTOS: BEN HICKS

“I’m doing good. Soaking in the beautiful weather,” says painter Cruise Bogle. It becomes apparent immediately that Bogle has a sunnier disposition than most. He also has a hell of a story, one filled with triumph that makes each of his finished works of art even more inspiring.

Bogle was a typical nineteen year old. He loved soccer and had plans to go to Tallahassee Community College to become a firefighter. Then, in December 2008 came a horrible accident. “I went to the beach with some friends. We were reminiscing and hanging out and having a good time. I was skimboarding on a wave like I had a thousand times before. But I banged my head and was immediately paralyzed.”

Bogle figures he was knocked out for a couple seconds, then he woke up and was face down in the water unable to move. “Luckily a wave flipped me over and I was able to take a breath. My friend, Joey, saw something was wrong. I’d always been a jokester, and most people thought it was a prank. But Joey was close enough to see in my face something was wrong.” His friend pulled him out of the water and Bogle was immediately taken to Delray Medical Center.

They replaced his C4 vertebrae with a titanium cage and four titanium pins to stabilize his neck. But the diagnosis was severe. He was paralyzed from the neck down. Two weeks later, on New Year’s Eve before 2009, Bogle was flown to Atlanta where he would begin rehab at Shepherd Center. There he learned the skill that would become his current focus — mouth painting.

“I would doodle in high school when I should have been doing work, but that was the closest I came to being an artist. At the Shepherd Center they offered an art class which is where I learned mouth painting was a possibility,” Bogle remembered. “For a lot of years I only did two or three paintings a year. I started taking it more seriously the last few years when I saw how inspiring it was for people.”>>

Anyone who picks up a new skill using an unused part of your body knows it can be a challenge. Like when learning to play guitar, one can get calluses on your fingers from pressing down on the strings. Bogle chuckled at that comparison. “Luckily I didn’t get any calluses in my mouth. My teeth get sore from gripping the mouth stick. When I use a heavier brush for backgrounds, sometimes it can get my jaw a little sore. But usually, I feel good after I paint. My mind is always all over the place. Painting lets me hone in mentally. It’s very therapeutic.”

Bogle uses a mouth stick, and a mouth guard that allows him to hold the stick between his teeth. From that stick he can attach pretty much any style paint brush that he desires. Once inspiration hits, he gets help setting up the easels and paints, then he gets to work. He has a paint tray from which he dips the brushes into the various hues of paint. “The hardest part is the first stroke,” Bogle said. “I’m always scared I’ll botch it from the start.”

Most of his inspiration comes from the ocean that is close to his Delray home, his heart, and even his name, Cruise. “I got my name because my parents conceived me while on a boat going from Maine to Venezuela. I grew up on and off boats, so I’ve always been around the water. I’ve always loved those bright colors.”

One of his favorite works is his rendition of the bright yellow and blue tinged mahi-mahi that you can find all over the shirts and tumbler cups that he sells on his website cruisebogledesigns.com. “That mahi painting was my OG. All my apparel was birthed from that mahi.” When asked to pick some of his other favorites, Bogle didn’t hesitate. “There’s an octopus piece where I love the color combination of orange and blues. I also did a collaboration with Andy Hirst painting Marilyn Monroe. It’s 4 foot by 4 foot and I never did anything that size. It’s cool to push the boundaries of my limits.”

Bogle also pushed himself by displaying his artwork at an Art Basel satellite event in Miami last December. “I exhibited my work and did a live painting, which I’d never done before. My live painting was a sunset scene that I painted on a map of Florida. I think

painting on something besides a blank canvas helps people connect to it. People could watch me paint for two hours. Luckily I was tucked in a corner painting, so I didn’t have to get nervous seeing people stare at me while I worked.”

Another upcoming event for Bogle is his annual Cruiser Palooza, which will be held April 16 at Delray Beach Playhouse. The event raises money for Bogle’s living expenses and also contributes to spinal research. “The first Cruiser Palooza was in my cousin’s front yard a couple months after the accident. Three hundred people showed up and they raised $40,000 in one night. Last time we raised $100,000, which allowed us to donate a lot to spinal research. It’s always very community based and the cities of Delray, Boynton and Boca always support. It’s a big party with multiple bands, food, drinks, and a good time for a good cause.”

Twelve years of physical therapy and his optimistic attitude has seen improvements for Bogle. “When I first got injured I couldn’t move anything under my neck. Now I can flip my arms and thumb. It’s not huge, but my right arm allows me a little independence to scroll through my phone. I used to drive my wheelchair only with this cool sit and puff technology which I move my wheelchair by breathing through. Now for short amounts of time I can drive my wheelchair with a joystick. To drive with my hand 24/7 is a big goal of mine.”

He’s hopeful that advances in technology will help his condition. He’s following discoveries in Neuralink technologies, which will allow the body to bypass injured parts of the spinal cord. He’s also taking a futuristic attitude toward artistic mediums, hoping to translate his artworks into NFT’s, digital one-of-a-kind tokens of his art. “We’re learning about it. A friend is in the beginning stages of generating an NFT on my art. It will be the first ever mouth painted NFT. It seems like a cool space to be in. Being the first of anything is pretty cool.”