IMAGE:22 2019

Thomas Riesner made this intriguing etching, IMAGE:22, with ink on paper. The all-over quality to the mark-making suggests a kind of automatic drawing; one thing leads to the next and the image takes shape, slowly. What I love about this piece is the relationship between the almost childlike figures and the much darker elements like the scrawled, barely legible writing and the hand on the right, which looks less like a hand and more like a claw. These darker elements create a sense of unease. If you look closely at the top left corner, you can see where Riesner has scratched into the plate to create a ghostly white figure. This feels very immediate, a direct connection to the artist’s hand and mind. Riesner reminds me of artists like Alfred Kubin or perhaps even outsider artists like Adolf Wolfli; artists whose work reveals an internal world that feels very personal and raw. I think art is a way to embrace ambiguity, and I am happy to sit with the questions this piece throws up.