On the cold morning of November 19th, 2016 I traveled with my mother to our local high school for the 30th annual North Penn Holiday Craft Market. With harp music in the background I lethargically barged through the tall crowds hoping to see some of the wonderful art Pennsylvania had to offer. Unfortunately, besides some luscious soap and a few painted eggs, nothing seemed to catch my eye.
I was beginning to let my sleepiness get the best of me when I came across a peculiar art display. The wall had numerous mounted prints that were visualization of various puns. For example, one print labeled “Pulled Pork” showed a pig being pulled in a wagon by a young farm boy. I’m a sucker for clever humor, so my body was glued to the display for at least 30 minutes.
It turns out the creator is self-taught artist, Bruce Garrabrandt from Terra Hill, Pennsylvania. According to his website Garrabrandt started working in advertising and later moved on to art and small business ownership. He actually owns a rather charming bed & breakfast establishment in Lancaster county. At first it was unbelievable how a person without any formal training could create such funny pieces, but once I saw his English background, things made sense. Only a person in love with literature and written word could make prints with such clever wordplay. As groan-inducing as people might find puns, it actually showcases some pretty need brain sorting skills as evident by this New York Magazine article.
(Baked Ham on White)
Being relatively poor I didn’t purchase any art for myself. However, I did memorize Mr. Garrabrandt’s website URL just in case I needed some future laughs. He might not be the leader of the next great art movement, but Bruce Garrabrandt’s work is perfect when you’re feeling blue on a dark day.