IMAGE:28 2019

This is a painting by Thomas Riesner. Just look at the way this figure has come into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I sympathize with Riesner. I can imagine what it might have been like to create this small artwork, the physical act of getting lost in a red and black world. See how the paint is thin and watery in some places and thick and clotted in others, giving the figure a sense of depth and texture. The gesture of the arms reaching out communicates a feeling of… warning. A certain sort of doom, maybe? This piece relates to the work of other outsider painters who embrace the raw and expressive potential of the medium. Artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time. For me, painting embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings. What do you see?