Streams in the Wasteland
Through the style of "narrative super-realism," Josh Tiessen creates art that explores themes of creation and hope.
Canadian artist Josh Tiessen’s series Streams in the Wasteland, from which these two images are taken, explores the themes of wild animals inhabiting abandoned spaces. The title for the series, painted from 2015 to 2021 and first shown at Jonathan Levine Projects in Jersey City, NJ, is taken from Isaiah 43:20-22: “The wild animals honour me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. . . yet you have not called on me.” Tiessen says the series explores Isaiah’s prophecies, which critiqued the nations’ lack of honour for their Creator and whose greed and desire for wealth and power ultimately led to their demise.
Can These Bones Live?
This circular painting depicts a vision of the prophet Ezekiel known as the valley of dry bones. The sun-bleached bones, seen by Ezekial in an arid valley, represent the exile of the Jewish people to Babylon. In the vision, God’s spirit breathes, and the bones move, take on flesh, and come back to life. Tiessen uses a Monarch butterfly as the symbol of new life and resurrection. “In the broader context of the Bible, this vision foreshadows the promise of transformed hearts through grace,” Tiessen says, “enabling the people of God to live in a new universe of justice and peace – traditionally referred to as heaven.” “Can These Bones Live?” is a pre-cursor to the next work in the series: “Rise Up.”
Rise Up
This triangular painting is a sequel to “Can These Bones Live?” and elaborates on the hope of the exiled Jews that they would one day be free to return to the promised land. Tiessen cites Isaiah’s prophecy of a new heaven and a new earth as inspiration: “Your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise. Let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy.” Tiessen says art and literature often visualize heaven as “an otherworldly place where nothing much happens to wispy disembodied spirits on clouds.” In contrast, Tiessen’s vision for new life dismisses what he calls the “white-washed” biblical scenes of Renaissance art, instead depicting racially diverse figures of different ages ascending from rock spires. “This painting is a metaphor for transcending all that is evil in our world, including greed, self-absorption, and racism. It expresses longing for a world set right where harmony will reign between humans, animals, and their Creator.” The Monarch butterfly, one of the many species in danger of extinction, will flourish once again.
Unique style
Tiessen, born in 1995, paints with oil on wood, creating pieces that are seldom rectangular.
Instead, he deliberately chooses shapes in harmony with his subject matter or that reference medieval iconography or Renaissance tabernacle and altar-piece frames.
He calls his style “narrative super-realism” and typically spends 1700 hours on a single piece. Internationally recognized and celebrated, Tiessen lives and paints in Stoney Creek, Ontario.
To see more of Tiessen’s work and to read about his philanthropic and conservation efforts, visit joshtiessen.com. “I believe all that we have comes from God, who created the world and is the ultimate source of everything in it,” Tiessen says. “I give out of sincere gratitude for all the material blessings I enjoy, and seek to responsibly steward that which God has entrusted to me: my gift for art and the financial resources which result from it.” Tiessen founded Arts for Change, a foundation that financially supports individuals and organizations engaged in humanitarian efforts.
