Mad Swirl is excited to introduce an incredible artist to our Mad Gallery, Thomas Riesner, who paints his strange and spooky work all the way from Leipzig, Germany. His work, though initially a bit unsettling, is still nice to look at – with an interesting combination of intentional lines and squiggles against watercolored seemingly free-formed chaos. However, the longer you look at Riesner’s pieces, the weirder they get, almost seeming to represent the stuff of nightmares. The figures he draws seem to look right back at you with a wicked intensity, and yet, there’s still some comfort to be found, a profound desire to keep looking, a staring contest of sorts – though i’d imagine they’d keep watching you long after you look away. ~ Madelyn Olson