TORTURE PRISON 2022

This is Thomas Riesner’s “Torture Prison”, 41 by 30cm. It seems to have been made with paint or ink, and maybe some kind of crayon or marker, too. The colors are limited - red, black, green, a little blue, and the off-white of the page. I’m really drawn to the raw immediacy here, how Riesner seems to be working straight from some feeling. Look how the red paint drips down the figure’s body, almost like blood or sweat. Then there's the scratching, frantic lines around the edges that seem to cage the figure. That electric green hair suggests there's something really alive and wild about to burst out of the form, even as it’s imprisoned. I’m reminded of some of Francis Bacon’s screaming figures, or maybe even some of the early German Expressionists. But Riesner’s got his own thing going on, a kind of unhinged, punk energy. It's not about being pretty, it's about being real, even if it's ugly. Artmaking as catharsis!