Glen Gruenhagen

A woman called out of the blue yesterday and asked if I wanted to buy a painting or two. She had a rather dreadful canvas by a guy who did four books for Walter Foster in the how to paint series. Dark and gloomy. And then she brought this one over, artist unknown, the signature also somewhat obscured.

It was obvious that it was the old church in Hanalei, one of favorite places in Hawaii, Kauai being my favorite island. I bought it instantly, for a meager sum. The painting came from her father.

Dirty, late for me and rather naive but it had a certain folky, primitive quality that I find appealing. I love the happy brown faces in front of the church!

Jennifer took the painting out of frame and I quickly cleaned both it and the frame liner.  It brightened up considerably. She put a new wire on the back for me. I could now see the signature,  Glen Gruenhagen - 88.

I did a quick search and there were no auction records for the guy. Sort of figures, the whole painting strikes me as being painted by a self taught "outsider" and that adds to its overall charm.

I sent image to a few friends who live or who have lived in Kauai, wondering if the name meant anything and started to do a little research of my own.

I found this. The artist is currently doing time for threatening a County Councilman.

Sixty-seven-year-old Glenn Gruenhagen is facing first-degree terroristic threatening charges, a class C felony, and harassment, a petty misdemeanor, after he brought a document, described by police as a “threatening letter,” to the Historic County Building in Lihuʻe on Jan. 12. The letter was left on DeCostaʻs desk and reported to police on Jan. 16. Gruenhagen reportedly returned to the building on Jan. 17 and Jan. 19 before being arrested. He has been jailed at the Kauaʻi Community Correctional Center since Jan. 25.

He is a little older than I am and looks to have quite an independent streak. 

I was struck by this particular message in the threatening note, henceforth known as exhibit 1:

Hunted me down, like a wild animal, in Kokee for 25 years, couldn't catch me!

Kokee is a very wild area above Waimea Canyon and a favorite place of mine. It is near a place in the Kalalau called the Valley of Lost Tribes. People like Glen have been getting lost out there for years. An idyllic wildland.

Here is a later article on the disposition of the case, Gruenhagen eventually pled guilty but many did not think he got a square deal.

A local Kaua’i artist was sentenced to a year in jail in a Līhu’e courtroom on Tuesday in a plea agreement for a case revolving around an alleged threatening letter left on a County Councilman’s desk in January.

The sentencing raises questions about the fairness of the legal proceeding due to the ambiguity of the document in question, a cited lack of intent to threaten, medical professionals deeming the defendant unfit to proceed, and potential conflicts of interest due to personal relationships between key parties. Roughly a week before the latest hearing, Janice Slomenski, who said she had been Gruenhagen’s landlord for approximately 12 years, contacted Kaua’i Now to share her thoughts on the defendant. “He’s nonconfrontational. Never fights, never argues,” she said. When asked if she had seen the letter, Slomenski stated, “Knowing Glenn, it’s harmless.” 

Adam Killermann, who lives in Hanapēpē, also contacted Kaua’i Now about the case, claiming to have known Gruenhagen for years and initially hiring him for a work release program for a prior conviction, related to a class C felony marijuana charge in 1994, which resulted in him serving five years in prison. “I never, ever saw any violence. And he was never confrontational,” Killermann said.

“Violence is not in his playbook,” he added. “Anyway, he was a very harmless guy. He didn’t bother people. He worked well. He was working well with people.”

I asked my friend W, herself a longtime artist in Hanalei, if she knew the guy?

Only by sight and to say hello.  He painted outside even sometimes in the rain. I admired that.  

I will think of you and Leslie when I am in Hanalei… will actually be helping with an annual Bingo night at the green church which is for the food bank and school backpacks for kids.  Very Lake Woebegone.

When he had no glasses, he painted on location with a prescription snorkel mask.  Gotta love that.

I am starting to like this guy more and more. Whole thing seems way blown out of proportion. Just a crazy artist blowing off steam. And the man he allegedly threatened, Billy De Costa, obviously has his own issues.

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I had a friend, a long time Hanalei resident, whose name will not be mentioned, who ran afoul of the good old boys network there and basically packed up and fled, fearing for his life. The dynamic for non native Hawaiians or Portuguese can be quite interesting.

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Ricardo, who was a longtime Kauai resident before moving to Thailand, had this to say:

Lovely painting. Makes me want to see it again partly to see if the bell tower is really leaning like that. Just looked at a bunch of pictures, my impression is that the tower may lean mauka but apparent sideways lean in photos is probably just camera being held not at a horizontal angle. Ironically, one weakness of the painting to me is that it only shows one of the many waterfalls in the background. At the rainiest times I have counted over 20. One time I even saw a vertical flash flood turning into waterfalls!

Now I think my friend is being a bit harsh here. First of all, Gruenhagen painted plein aire in the rain with a scuba mask on, not from a camera. I can forgive a less than perfect representation. That is what cameras are for, not paintings. Straight up and down is overrated.

And perhaps ol' Mt. Waialeale was having a bit of a dry spell that day, one waterfall is sufficient for me.

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A few examples of his work are out there, not many.

Nothing else came up on the guy but this note from 2022:

Glen Gruenhagen is very difficult to find online, and at most, his works are found on Etsy and vintage art websites. He specializes in oil paintings around Kaua’i, ‘Oahu, and Maui. These works look like real photographs when hung on a wall and are detailed down to the last blade of grass or droplet of water. He began painting at the young age of 8, and it’s truly amazing to see what he could create during the time he was selling his works. I am unsure if he is still around painting today, most of his works are dated in the 90’s. With how rare his original works seems to be, I am grateful to have so many pieces hanging around my apartment.

W sent me a note with a picture of another Gruenhagen piece that a friend of hers owns.

Definitely outsider art. Love the rainbow! Good luck to you, Glen.

2019 photo