Untitled 2019

Thomas Riesner made this untitled artwork out of paint on a 20 x 25cm canvas. I love the looseness of the marks in this piece, the way the paint drips suggest a kind of vulnerability. The contrast between the black and red, the way they bleed into each other, feels both raw and considered. You can almost see the artist's hand moving quickly, decisively, leaving trails of color in its wake. The texture isn’t labored over, it’s immediate. I can imagine Riesner working fast, maybe even improvising. Notice that spot where the red streaks run down from the head, like tears or blood, this one detail really makes the piece for me. It lends an emotional weight to the whole thing, a sense of unease that’s hard to shake. This piece, in its simplicity, really speaks to something about the human condition. Kind of reminds me of work by Francis Bacon, a shared interest in the grotesque, but with Riesner's own unique twist.