The Wishing Hand – a thumb-in-a-million art piece by offbeat artisan Linda Brunker – welcomes the curious to Dublin’s Ministry of Education. Thus, it not only provides Ireland’s youngsters with a heavy-handed message about the potential of the human spirit, it also teaches them about the importance of oversized roadside architecture.
A bronzed meditation on life and love, The Wishing Hand also gives a middle-finger to the establishment. The locals must’ve thought all their wishes had come true when it was installed one salubrious morn in 2001, but it looks pretty heavy, so it must’ve been all hands on deck that day!
Stoic and detached, with an unyielding fetishism for biological hyperrealism, The Wishing Hand can, at first, come across as a little lifeless. The term ‘corporate art’ prances upon the tip of my tongue although this is, perhaps, unfair. One can only truly appreciate this masterpiece after a moment of quiet meditation.
It’s only then, as the light dances across the fingernails, that Linda’s trademark style comes to the fore. The Wishing Hand becomes and ode to nature. It sings songs of water and wind and fire and, dare I say it, hedonistic eroticism.
It mourns, like the rest of us, for a simpler time.
“My work comes from a place where art, science, nature and the human spirit meet,” Linda pointed out. “Our world is fascinating at every level, from microscopic organisms to the galaxy that surrounds us. I am becoming more and more aware of what many traditional cultures knew – that all things are connected. This work is the product of my continual explorations of the natural and spiritual world around me.”
I was struggling to put my finger on it, Linda, but that was just what I was about to say!
The Handmaid’s Tale
Visitors should note that there is no left hand – but that’s all right! The nearby tribute to Luke Kelly is just a head, after all, so maybe the locals are spreading massive dismembered body parts across Dublin to scare off the English or something.
The Wishing Hand does, however, go hand-in-hand with other massive mitts such as Entrust, La Mano, Bird in Hand, Monumento A La Paz and, well The Mitt. I’ve re-used the same jokes in pretty much every one of those entries, so maybe I should put a metacar-pause on visiting Big Hands for a while.
The Wishing Hand was conceived as a hands-on exhibit. Guests are invited to climb atop the piece’s vast palm and sit, cloaked in the unnerving silence of a crisp Dublin forenoon to beg for their greatest desires. With a heart full of hope, I did just that. I wanted to get some firsthand experience, to be sure, to be sure.
Unfortunately, I’d guzzled a carafe of Guinness for breakfast and promptly passed out betwixt the Hand’s formidable fingers. When I awoke, alone and afraid, the only thing I wished for was a couple of Panadols and a good night’s wrist.
