Dangers Everywhere 

Thomas Riesner's 'Dangers Everywhere' evokes a primal unease, a sentiment as old as art itself. The figure, rendered with visceral strokes, recalls ancient idols—figures embodying unseen forces. Consider the wide, unblinking eyes, a motif found across cultures from Cycladic figurines to the watchful gaze of Byzantine icons. They represent an awareness that transcends the mundane, hinting at hidden realities. The surrounding darkness, rendered in chaotic lines, echoes the 'horror vacui'—the fear of empty space—seen in medieval art, filling every corner with symbolic imagery. Here, it becomes a manifestation of the unknown, pressing in on the vulnerable figure. This composition taps into our collective memory, a subconscious recognition of vulnerability and the ever-present threat of the unseen. Like ancestral fears, the 'dangers' in Riesner's work become less about specific threats and more about the inescapable human condition.