Artist’s Statement: My artworks arise from an impulse within my soul. I don’t know beforehand what will emerge. I usually listen to music while painting.
In the Cage 2
In the Cage 2. Ink on paper. 15cm wide x 21cm long. A red and blue birdlike figure with a stark, flaming yellow crest sits inside a black, wiry birdcage-like structure. Eyes wide, the figure is perhaps wondering how they might break free.
Other Planet 2. Ink on paper. 15cm wide x 21cm long. On a yellow background, a dark red figure with wings emerges from (is birthed from within?) a red planet-like orb, a plume of green mist emanating from the top of their wide-eyed, blue head.
Soul Worlds 2. Ink drawing on paper. 15cm wide x 21cm long. Three separate figures stand in front of a wall consisting of several red and black eyes. Two large eyes appear on the ground at their feet. Each figure wears spiky crowns and holds onto poles between them. The figure on the left is gilded in gold with a red face, black eyes, and white pupils; the middle figure has a wide swath of red (a tongue?) flowing out of their month and down their torso; the third figure is shaded black with white pinprick pupils.
Soul Worlds 3. Ink drawing on paper. 15cm wide x 21cm long. Three winged, birdlike figures stand together. The figure on the left is red with black stripes, arm bands prominent; the middle figure is gilded in gold, wears a spiky crown of red, black, and gold, and is sitting on a wire throne of black and blue; the right figure is red with gold armor.
Transiency. Ink on paper. 15cm wide x 21cm long. Highlighted in yellow and red, a wiry black wraithlike figure stands between two divergent timelines (years listed in columns). Glancing down, this figure may not know which direction to move.
Thomas Riesner was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1971. He has been self-taught and intensively involved in painting since 1990. In addition to acrylic and ink paintings, drypoint etching is one of his means of artistic expression; quite spontaneously and suddenly, it literally bubbles out of him. His expressive, intuitive painting style is reflected in his archaic-seeming figures and image elements. His pictures exude an atmosphere of originality and spontaneity, although most of the motifs are rather dark.
