Eugene Von Bruenchenhein worked as a florist and a baker before devoting the last forty years of his life to making art. The son of a sign painter and stepson of a Sunday painter who believed in reincarnation, Von Bruenchenhein was exposed to creative trades and nonconformist ideas from an early age. It was a fortunate foundation for an artist who eventually found his voice in a wide range of expressions: poetry, photography, drawing, painting, ceramics, and sculpture. “Create and be recognized” commanded a sign hanging in the artist’s basement studio, and he attempted to do just that: his home was utterly transformed by his outpouring of expression.

Stacy C. Hollander, "Untitled #700," exhibition label for Jubilation|Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012.