Solo Residency Exhibition
Statement:
Paintings prophesying an idyllic future rest mere feet away from depictions of our world without a veil of pleasantry; depravity and hope in view with one sweep of the eyes. This is the worldbuilding of Josh Tiessen; the result of his wrestling to understand our world as a person of faith and his pain over the dissonance between the way things are versus how he believes they should be.
Wisdom literature, fierce environmentalism, culture-bucking philosophy, and a heavy pour of whimsy mark each of Tiessen's paintings, calling the viewer to ask better questions of society, all while enjoying the intrinsic value and beauty of creation. Like the smear of oil on a pelican's beak or the creeping jaguar stalking in secret, our world hurts and hunts while we turn a blind eye.
Tiessen’s paintings hold our gaze, so that we might not miss the message.
Josh Tiessen: Solo Residency Exhibition features an expansive collection of eco-surrealist paintings alongside fresh work completed on-site. Throughout this sampling of Tiessen’s internationally award-winning career, “animals with abandoned human civilization,” “irony/parody,” and “a visual theology of the intrinsic value and moral innocence of the animal kingdom” remain strong recurring subject matters.
Artist Bio:
Josh Tiessen was born in 1995 in Moscow, Russia to Canadian parents. He is an international award-winning contemporary artist based in New York City. 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 theology and environmentalism, Tiessen holds a B.R.E. in Arts, Biblical Studies, and Philosophy (2020), and an M.A. in Art History from the University of Toronto (2024).
Links:
Artist’s Website: https://www.joshtiessen.com/
Artist’s Instagram: @joshtiessen