Aniela Preston is a British artist born in 1998 in Rugby, United Kingdom. She graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the University of Leeds in 2021, following a Foundation Diploma at Central Saint Martins, London. In 2025, she completed her Master’s degree at the Royal College of Art, London. 

Preston’s practice blends contemporary concerns with classical visual languages, drawing from Medieval, Renaissance and Mannerist painting traditions. Influenced by Surrealism and Metaphysical painting, she constructs meticulously composed, dreamlike scenes that she describes as Capriccios: imaginative spaces that abandon rational structure in favour of the unconscious, intuition and emotional logic. For Preston, fantasy is not escapism but a critical tool, offering an alternative way to process a reality often marked by instability, conformity and systemic contradiction. As she notes, “it doesn’t have to make sense. It’s probably for the best it doesn’t.”

Working primarily in acrylic, Preston’s paintings combine hyper-real detail with symbolic density. Her works often feature endangered animals, self-referential figures and ornate architectural settings that echo historical iconography while addressing contemporary social, political and environmental issues. Through a postmodern use of citation, she mythologises the mundane, transforming intimate moments into allegorical reflections on control, vulnerability and the Anthropocene.