CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 6/6/2016

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: King of Lesser Lands

When the small, sickly, uneducated and "dazzlingly weird, subsistence-level Renaissance man*" and self-taught artist Eugene Von Bruenchenhein died in MIlwaukee in 1983, he left behind an overwhelming trove of never-before-seen artworks that were as erotic and psychedelic as they were tender and apocalyptic. Every surface of his parlor was coated in swatches of color and pattern. Hundreds of paintings, chicken-bone sculptures, and ceramic works crammed every corner of his tiny house, alongside thousands of strangely innocent yet also bondagey "pinup" style photographs and color slides of his wife, handmade poetry books, theoretical writings, reel-to-reel tape recordings, geometric ballpoint-pen drawings, homemade musical instruments and arrowheads made from old glass bottles. We are delighted to recommend Andre Edlin Gallery's wonderful new monograph, the only book on Von Bruenchenhein currently in print, and the most comprehensive. Featured image is an untitled hand-colored gelatin silver print of the artist's wife from the 1940s.

* Quoted from Roberta Smith's November 4, 2010 review in 'The New York Times.'