Modern Painters

WHEN THE MILWAUKEE-BASEDartist died in 1983, he left behind atreasure trove of paintings—depictingfantastical castles, or landscapes likeWand of the Genii, 1956, above—bonesculptures, and adoring nude portraitsof his wife. Here are a few facts aboutthis odd and singular artist, courtesyof Andrew Edlin Gallery directorPhillip March Jones.1Von Bruenchenhein beganto write poems while in hisearly 20s. In 1936 two of them,“The Tide of Life” and “APrayer,” were published in ananthology titled American Voices. HeZDVXQIRUWXQDWHO\QHYHUDEOHWRÀQGa publisher for the hundreds of otherpoems he wrote during his lifetime.2Many of the paintbrushesthe artist used were madefrom his wife’s hair, whichhe stuffed into straws andpen stalks.3Von Bruenchenhein’schicken-bone sculptures alsoincorporated turkey bones,which he soaked in am-monia, dried in the oven,and then assembled into thrones,towers, and other forms using tweezersand airplane glue.4The artist desperatelysought recognition for hiswork, going so far as tosend poems and paintingsto Presidents Kennedyand Johnson.5He attributed his artisticproduction to “unknownforces at work, which Imyself cannot rightlyexplain, forces that havegone on since the beginning.”PORTFOLIO // TRENDS // SNEAK PEEKS // NEWSMAKERSFROM LEFT: ATLANTA CONTEMPORARY; ANDREW EDLIN GALLERY, NEW YORK34 MODERN PAINTERS JUNE/JULY 2016BLOUINARTINFO.COMCURATOR’S CHOICE``````Which works of art would you own if space,logistics, and reality were no obstacle?I’ve spent way too much time at Mass MOCAto choose anything other than a Sol LeWitt walldrawing. Or Spiral Jetty, because that wouldmean I have an incredible house and property.``````What’s one especially crazy place in Atlantathat you would recommend to visitors?Our infamous Buford Highway Farmers Market,of course! It’s a 100,000-square-foot mega-market that combines a thousand mom-and-popMexican, Central American, Caribbean, WestAfrican, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Eastern``````European, and Scandinavian markets into asimmering stew of deliciousness. It’s the UnitedNations of food.``````What’s the last great book you read?I’m in a perpetual state of rereading on rotationBarry Hannah’s Ray, Geronimo Rex, and Long,Last, Happy:KHQ,ÀUVWJRWWRWKH6RXWK,WRRNoff for Oxford, Mississippi, and despite havingnever been there, I had the oddest sense of déjàvu. I spent the night where Hannah used todrink, chatting with writers he had pissed offand women he had hit on.``````Tell me about Dapper Bruce LaFitte, who hasa show up at Atlanta Contemporary throughAugust 7.He is a beast. I am in love with his pen-and-inkdrawings of the Crescent City’s beloved high``````VFKRROEDQGV7KHRXWÀWVWKHSDJHDQWU\WKHpomp, the structure, and the instruments—for those school bands lucky enough to remainintact, and those that were lost after HurricaneKatrina—are integral to New Orleans’s soul.``````What’s the last exhibition you saw that trulymoved you?Not an exhibition, per se, but I just visited3DVDTXDQIRUWKHÀUVWWLPHDQGZDVÁRRUHG,W·Va seven-acre compound once owned by theÁDPER\DQWDQGHFFHQWULFIRONDUWLVW(GGLH2ZHQVMartin (a.k.a. St. EOM). He ran away from homeat age 14 to New York, where he spent three anda half decades making a living as an artistand hustler, running an illicit gambling parlorand dealing pot. When he returned to Georgia tolive in the buildings his mother bought withproceeds earned from fortune-telling, he turnedthe compound’s six structures into his greatestwork of art. It’s a mock pre-Columbian psychedelicZRQGHUODQGLQÁXHQFHGE\$IULFDQVFXOSWXUHand American Indian totem poles. Mind-blowing.``````Which contemporary artist would you like tosee in the White House? (Not “hanging in theWhite House” but “leading the country.”)Trevor Paglen would certainly deliver somerevealing State of the Unions. I have alwaysadmired Lisi Raskin’s politics. But TheasterGates seems like an obvious vote.``````We heard you used to be a practicing artist...I have a BFA in painting. I made murky paintingsof nudes and dreamt of combining Eric Fischl’soffbeat suburbs with the disjunctive arrangementsof David Salle. I was once upon a time namedone of the top three artists in the mid-Atlanticregion by the good folks at Kool Cigarettes. Theyused to send swag in the mail, like fortune cookiesthat said “Come up to Kool” and refrigeratorpoetry magnets with carefully chosen fragmentsOLNH ́VPRRWKμ ́ÁDYRUμ ́VXQVHWVμ ́SOHDVXUHμand so on.``````What would you like to see changed about thecontemporary art world?Getting away from everything being about justwhite male artists.``````What is your spirit animal, and why?Black panther, for every reason.``````If you could have drinks with two art worldpersonalities, living or dead, whom might youchoose, and what might you discuss?I’m going with Hemingway and Kerry JamesMarshall. We’ll talk about boxing, the ocean,Cuba, Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago jazz, theSouth, Spain, and the storytelling of comics.``````DANIEL FULLERCurator at Atlanta Contemporary``````FACT FILEEUGENE VONBRUENCHENHEIN