Banff National Park Gallery of Fine Art and Photography

Photo-based works - Peter von Tiesenhausen

Although Peter does not bill himself as a photographer, he frequently utilizes photography in his work, whether that is a photo-etching or a hand-held digital image of an ephemeral environmental installation. His reluctance to take on the parameters of any one medium sets Peter apart, he utilizes what is immediate to his art practice, frequently elements from the subject itself, so he can truthfully approach each work literally from the ground up. There are many works that are experimental or in the early stages of another avenue in his oeuvre as well as a substantial body of work that speaks of being a von Tiesenhausen.

detail

Full Circle 1, ed. 16/17

photo etching/paper

13.5 x 19" image, 22 x 30.75" paper, framed

Note: one other unframed work in this series is available

$1575.00 CDN

"Embedded in mecca's strata of meaning were references to ancient myths recast in a contemporary mode. The forest, site of death and renewal, was turned horizontally to point the way. Fire, force of destruction and purification, bound a community in a ritualistic event. A sacred mountain, sign of a path to eternity, was, on close inspection, a giant multi-decker sandwich of leftovers, end cuts of sheetrock [sic] destined to break down into dust at the city dump. The all-seeing eye, a numinous symbol of the Enlightenment was converted into a witness for our times (Katherine Ylitalo, Peter von Tiesenhausen mecca, Calgary: Illingworth Kerr Gallery, 2003, 15)."

Mecca, #P.P.

photo etching/paper

11x8.5", framed

Note: work relates to Peter's exhibition mecca at Illingworth Kerr Gallery (2003)

$775.00 CDN

In Sarnia:

The occasion, in the fall of 2008, was to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first commercial North American oil well in Oil Spring, Ontario. The photo was taken from the 14th floor of a Sarnia office tower, that housed, coincidentality, the offices of the Canadian Coast Guard and the person responsible for orchestrating the journey of the five Watchers aboard the Coast Guard vessel Henry Larson. Lashed to the bridge, this journey through the high arctic would take these figures through the Northwest Passage in a turn of events that again were a complete coincidence.

Peter von Tiesenhausen - Chemical Valley

Chemical Valley (Sarnia), 2008

digital print, A/P

3 x 16", framed

$600.00 CDN

The Jackson Exhibition - September/October 2008 - A story of coincidence.

Enter the room and hover over the forest of tumble weeds protruding from the 20 ft. high wall.

Weeds, 2008

digital print, A/P

10x10", framed

$675.00 CDN

A Pine Beetle killed tree was scored roughly with a chainsaw, erected, and set on fire. It burned for eight hours. By coincidence, one small fragment escaped the fire. It resembled a shouldered rifle. The next morning (as it turned out it was September 11th, 2008) the now memorial monument was placed in a field just outside of Jackson, Wyoming. The field, by coincidence, is the very same field where former Vice-President Cheney lands his helicopters.