Untitled 2019

Thomas Riesner made this small, untitled painting with what looks like ink and maybe watercolor. It's all about the process here, you can see the ink dripping down, the way the colors bleed into each other. The black ink creates these intense figures, kind of like ghosts or beings from a dream. Then, there are these splashes of red and blue that add to the emotional intensity. It’s raw and immediate, like Riesner was channeling something directly onto the paper. Look closely at the bottom of the figures, see how the black ink bleeds into these web-like structures? That's Riesner playing with the medium, letting the ink do its thing. It reminds me a bit of Cy Twombly, in the sense that it embraces the messiness and the unpredictable nature of artmaking. It doesn't try to hide anything, and it invites you to find your own meaning.