Agnus Dei

Josh Tiessen

Josh Tiessen, Agnus Dei (2021), Oil on braced birch, 65” x 105”.

Josh Tiessen’s monumental painting, Agnus Dei, is the culmination of his Streams in the Wasteland series, a reference to Isaiah 43:20-22: “The wild animals honor 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, Israel.” In Agnus Dei, the seventeen animals featured in previous works appear in a final painting. Set in an abandoned gothic cathedral in the bleak winter snow, the animals surround the Lamb of God, who lies slain on the altar.

Tiessen writes:
”I drew influence from historical paintings that have depicted the symbol of the Lamb of God, such as Jan van Eyck’s Adoration of the Lamb and Francisco de Zurbarán’s Agnus Dei. My painting is also a critique of the human-centric bias within Western art history. This is best seen in Renaissance paintings where animals seldom appear, and if they do, it is simply for allegorical purposes. By enlisting wild animals as protagonists with intrinsic value amidst the wasteland of human existence, I endeavor to revise Western art history through a zoological lens, liberating the Judeo-Christian worldview from its perversion at the hands of anthropocentric Greek philosophy.

“This altarpiece triptych is a musing on the moral innocence of animals, something we as humans cannot claim for ourselves. In the biblical book of Isaiah, chapter 53, we read a prophecy about a Suffering Servant likened to an innocent lamb. Throughout history this prophecy is believed by Messianic Jews and Christians to be fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth, a morally perfect substitute who died for the sins of humanity to bring us into right relationship with our Creator. The effect of this reconciliation is also cosmic in scope –– the future hope of a ‘new heavens and a new earth’ where ‘the wolf will live with the lamb.’

“In the meantime we must recognize that the ‘whole creation has been groaning,’ as a result of the curse from humanity’s sin, witnessed in the horrors of deforestation, oil spills, and rapid species extinction. (Romans 8:22) In my altar depiction I have employed elephant tusks, representing modern-day animal sacrifice, such as the illegal ivory trade. Likewise, the bloody slain lamb alludes to the cruel practice of vivisection (animal testing) and cloning for biomedical experimentation. Whether you believe in God or not, we can all be involved in rectifying the harm humans have done to nature and animals both in the past and in the present.

“Ultimately, my painting is a statement on how Christ’s substitutionary sacrificial death for the sins of humanity is ‘good news’ (the gospel) for those who accept this gift of grace, but also good news for all of creation, even animals, since they will no longer suffer at the hands of humans in the new heavens and new earth. For the present we are called to, in the words of Andrew Linzey, ‘see in the face of the Crucified the faces of all innocent, suffering creatures,’ living out our reconciliation to creation.”

 

Additional Information & Resources

 

Josh Tiessen

Josh Tiessen is an international award-winning contemporary artist based near Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His hyperreal shaped oil paintings, which take up to 1,700 hours to complete, reflect the interaction between the natural world and human cultures. He has been mentored by master artists, and in 2020, graduated with a Bachelor of Religious Education in Arts, Biblical Studies, and Philosophy.

In addition to painting and writing, Josh enjoys the waterfront trail of Lake Ontario and hiking trails across the Niagara Escarpment, often spotting his favorite bird, the Barn Swallow.


2021Anselm Society