About your purchase...
- Purchases outside the continental US - please call for shipping rates
- New York state residents are charged sales tax
The work(s) of art is/are sold by the Seller and purchased by the buyer upon the following terms and conditions:
1. Except as otherwise provided herein or elsewhere agreed in writing, payment in full is due and payable on the date of the invoice.
2. This is an invoice only. Title to the work(s) of art purchased shall not pass until payment in full has been received.
3. All applicable sales taxes have been charged on this transaction. The payment and remittance of use tax is the Buyer’s obligation. Seller reserves the right to collect out-of-state sales taxes from the buyer after the sale if seller becomes assessed with them.
4. The Buyer’s sole remedy for breach of any implied or express warranty therein shall be an action for rescission and, in any event, the absolute limit of the Seller’s liability and responsibility hereunder shall under no circumstances exceed the total sales price and seller shall not be responsible for any special, incidental, or consequential damages or lost profits.
5. A non-exclusive right to reproduce the work(s) of art is reserved by the Seller.
6. Risk or loss of the work(s) of art purchased shall pass to the Buyer upon delivery by the Seller to the address specified by the Buyer.
7. In accordance with the UCC and the New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, Seller guarantees that the work(s) of art purchased is by the named artist. If such work(s) proves not to be of such authorship as described, Seller will accept the return of the work(s) and return the sales price in full.
8. Any disputes arising out of this sale shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York without regard to its choice of law provisions, and shall be submitted to the American Arbitration Association for an arbitration to be held before a single arbitrator in New York City, New York. The prevailing party in such arbitration shall be entitled to its costs and attorneys’ fees in connection with such arbitration proceeding, and the costs of enforcement and collection of any resulting arbitral award.
EXCEPT FOR THE WARRANTY OF AUTHENTICITY SET FORTH ABOVE, NO WARRANTIES OR AGREEMENTS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, HAVE BEEN MADE BY THE SELLER.
|
|
EXHIBITED
Josh Tiessen
Refracting Infinity
Oil on panel
36 x 24 x 2 inches
Signed
Provenance
Josh Tiessen
Rehs Contemporary Galleries, Inc., New York City
Notes
“Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” [i] This philosophical musing from Qohelet, the “Teacher” in the Jewish wisdom tradition of Ecclesiastes, warns that the pursuit of knowledge, wealth, and all pleasures under the sun is nothing more than a vapour. The figure in my painting, whose silhouette is reflected in the windows of an old university science lab, is a modern version of the ancient teacher. He is a disenchanted wanderer in a world of smoke and mirrors, pondering the question, “What is the cure to the banality of existence?”
Similarly, the French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal described the predicament of being caught in the despair of human existence: “On all sides I behold nothing but infinity, in which I am a mere atom, a mere passing shadow that returns no more.” [ii]
Qohelet is intrigued by complex scientific theories and concepts. This painting depicts the idea of string theory: that at the subatomic level all of life is interconnected through vibrating strings of energy. The criss-crossing yarns inside the window are being woven into a nest by two Indigo Buntings. For me, sketching and painting are much like mind-mapping. Qohelet utilizes this non-linear approach of connecting the dots between seemingly disparate reference points, a similar method to John Nash shown in the movie A Beautiful Mind.
Reading modern cosmology, Qohelet is dismayed by the inevitable heat death of our universe. Perhaps the multiverse will be a cosmic saviour, the hope of other inhabitable galaxies with life-sustaining planets like ours that can be accessed through worm holes in Space. But, alas, this is the domain of science fiction and not based in fact. Through the window is seen a whimsical sunflower, like the ones in a Vincent van Gogh painting, and it captivates Qohelet. Despite van Gogh’s life of depression and sorrow, he saw glimpses of the Divine through nature. Likewise, Qohelet is fascinated by the ‘golden ratio’ spirals of the sunflower florets. The Fibonacci sequence of spiral growth is a cosmic constant, from the nautilus to the galaxies [iii].
While Qohelet is tempted to deem life absurd without any objective meaning, he is not wholly satisfied with that answer. He prefers to press into the mystery. Will the Intelligent Design he discovers in science and nature evoke in him wonder and desire for a world re-enchanted [iv], or is it merely a human evolutionary survival instinct to ascribe meaning to a universe of “blind, pitiless indifference?” [v]
Josh Tiessen
Artist
[i] Ecclesiastes 1:2
[ii] Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 11.
[iii] Boeyens & Thackery, South African Journal of Science.
[iv] Articulated by Charles Taylor in A Secular Age.
[v] Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden. 132.
|
