Divining Implements for Prophets,
Messiahs and Physicians

1989
Assemblage
14 x 10 x 3 inches
Individual instruments are removable from the case.
Collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

Austin artist Steve Brudniak addresses the existential with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor… Divining Implements for Prophets, Messiahs, and Physicians, 1989, appears at a glance to be an unaltered found object—an old-fashioned cabinet of medical instruments perhaps. However, upon closer examination, each instrument is revealed to be a highly crafted construction, combining the handles of Bakelite utensils with various tools, including the workings of a pressure gauge, a microphone, and an electric meter, and a modified projector bulb reflector lens. The ordinariness of the felt-lined cabinet that cradles the objects confers authority upon them—by exploiting the viewer’s recognition of the familiar, Brudniak convinces us of the utility of his extraordinary assemblages. The implications of the title are gently subversive; the artist has commented: “Divining Implements for Prophets, Messiahs, and Physicians represents quackery at the personal level. The parts are condition indicators, magnifiers and reflectors. They are the self deceptions, knivings, and manipulations gone through to insure specific desired outcomes in the future: Lies, people pleasing, spying, impersonating, brownnosing, codependency, enabling, premeditated conversation, flattery, ladder climbing, idolatry, incantations, and worthless repentances, to name a few. All normal human responses to fear and need. I look for a cure. I look for love and truth, I look for the future. I am a physician, a messiah, and a prophet, and therefore I need a set of tools.”

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