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Josh Tiessen
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EXHIBITED
Josh Tiessen
Alpha and Omega
Oil on panel
31 x 47 inches
Signed
Provenance
Josh Tiessen
Rehs Contemporary Galleries, Inc., New York City
Notes
I first sketched the concept for Alpha and Omega back in 2015, seven years before I began the painting. Eventually, I envisioned this scene to be the culmination of my series Vanitas and Viriditas, where Qohelet and Sophia finally meet. Qohelet comes from nobility, which afforded him the opportunity to pursue ‘everything under the sun’, including wealth, sensual pleasures, entertainment, knowledge, religion, philosophy, and science––seeking to find meaning in a modern age. As a lone wanderer fighting his own demons of nihilist despair he meets Sophia––Lady Wisdom––beckoning him from within the portal to a new creation.
Throughout this painting series the Zen rock garden has been a recurring motif. A prominent idea in Zen Buddhism is kire, which refers to the practice of “cutting” and letting go the root of life to recognize the radical impermanence of reality. Zen gardens, which are created to be dry landscapes absent of organic life “exemplify the nothingness that Buddhists claim to be intrinsic to all living things.” [i] This Zen art form is an aid to attaining satori (enlightenment). While Qohelet is attracted to this non-dualist approach to life, causing him to let go of all of his worldly attachments, Sophia beckons him back to all that is true, good, and beautiful. The barren black sand landscape is a picture of Qohelet’s soul, and the gushing waves spilling out from the portal are the Living Waters. Sophia carries a sapling, symbolic for the tree of life representing the wisdom that may also grow in Qohelet.
The twelve stones in the arch bear monograms for the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The Chi-Rho stone descending from above fits into the circular portal gate, as “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.” [ii] Sophia is a sign-post to Christ, whom Qohelet comes to understand as the “wisdom of God.” [iii]
The concept for this portal came from what the Celtic mystics called “thin places,” where the veil between heaven and earth becomes thin. Qohelet’s quest may finally be coming to an end, arriving at a newfound re-enchantment with the world. Yet, despite Sophia’s call to embrace the magic that is all around, the world is still filled with enigma, where human and environmental injustices abound. Qohelet and Sophia understand that it is only the Creator of the cosmos, referred to as The Alpha and Omega (the beginning and the end) who can ultimately restore what is broken, which no amount of human wisdom can fix.
Josh Tiessen
Artist
[i] Abigail Leali, “Chasing Paradise: Japanese Aesthetics Part 2,” MutualArt.
[ii] Psalm 118:22
[iii] 1 Corinthians 1:30
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BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1995 in Moscow, Russia, Josh Tiessen is an international award-winning artist based near Toronto, Canada. Tiessen is best known for his hyper-surreal shaped oil paintings, which take up to 1700 hours to complete, and reflect the interaction between the natural world and human-made structures, drawing upon his studies in philosophy and theology.
As a young artist Tiessen was designated one of the world's top ten prodigy artists by Huffington Post, and the only known male art prodigy in North America by Dr. J. Ruthsatz, global prodigy expert. As a teenager he was juried in as the youngest member of International Guild of Realism among foremost realist artists from around the world, Artists for Conservation and Society of Animal Artists, elite groups of the top nature and wildlife artists worldwide. Art Renewal Center designated him Associate Living Master, and New York based gallery Jonathan LeVine Projects awarded him First Place from 2000 artists in their international competition Search for the Next Great Artist. LeVine presented the emerging artist’s debut international solo exhibition “Streams in the Wasteland” in May of 2019.
Mentored by masters like acclaimed Canadian artist Robert Bateman, Tiessen has exhibited his work since 2006 in over 100 exhibitions including the National Gallery of Canada and prominent galleries in the United States. He has sold over 150 original works and hundreds of limited edition giclée prints to private and corporate Canadian and international collectors.
Featured over 200 times in the press & media (Forbes, American Art Collector, International Artist), speaking and teaching at 60 venues, and making 90 invited art donations to charitable organizations, Tiessen established the Arts for a Change Foundation. This prolific artist has garnered over 60 awards and honours including International Guild of Realism Creative Achievement, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and Canada's Top 20 Under 20, for his artistic accomplishment and philanthropic work.
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AVAILABLE WORKS
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Browse by Artist
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 Josh Tiessen All Creatures Lament Oil on panel 26 x 26 x 2 inches Signed |
 Josh Tiessen Auguries of Innocence III Oil on birch 8 x 8 inches Signed |
 Josh Tiessen Greening the White Cube Oil on panel 23 x 40 inches Signed |
 Josh Tiessen Nirvana 5G Oil on panel 36 x 24 x 2 inches Signed |
 Josh Tiessen Peace Like a River Oil on panel 33 x 34 x 2 inches Signed |
 Josh Tiessen Refracting Infinity Oil on panel 36 x 24 x 2 inches Signed |
 Josh Tiessen Sophia Oil on panel 24 inch diameter Signed |
 Josh Tiessen Swallowed by Knowledge Oil on panel 30 x 40 x 2 inches Signed |
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