Rooted in the philosophy of perception, Floating Worlds is a culmination of Astrid Preston’s experimentation with abstraction over the last three years. With a deep sensitivity towards landscape, Preston deconstructs the foundations of these familiar scenes. Her works dissect memories, bridge the past and present, and reveal the interconnections of our universe. The work on view at Craig Krull Gallery chronicles Preston’s ever-evolving practice. Transitional pieces feature multicolored webbing that shrouds color maps of post-impressionistic flora and fauna, obscuring the view to a hazy reminder of our surroundings. More recent works are entirely nonobjective, acting as a portal into the cosmos. Drawing inspiration from the views outside her studio as well as her experiences as an avid traveller, Preston studies the fractals, veins, and intricate systems of living things, finding parallels of these systems throughout space and time.​

For the last 5 decades, Astrid Preston has devoted her artistic career to painting the natural world. Residing in Santa Monica, Preston uses her nearby surroundings as inspiration for her work, having her intuition and knowledge of philosophical and scientific ethos inform her paintings. Often travelling to Japan, Preston is heavily influenced by the Japanese landscape and the Ukiyo-e (which translates to “Images of the floating world”) artistic style of the Edo Period. She has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions including sixteen at Craig Krull Gallery as well as the Bakersfield Museum of Art, Laguna Art Museum, Saginaw Art Museum, and the Wichita Fall Museum among others. Preston’s paintings are included in various private and public collections, including LACMA, the UCLA Hammer Museum, McNay Art Museum, Laguna Art Museum, Nevada Museum of Art, the Portland Art Museum, and the Orange County Museum of Art.

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Craig Krull