Aniela Preston – Cheaper than therapy

L.U.P.O. presents CHEAPER THAN THERAPY, Aniela Preston’s (Coventry, UK, 1998) first solo show showcasing works selected from the artist’s latest series.

In a world where the weight of reality often feels overwhelming, Aniela Preston seeks solace in the fantastical. Describing her works as ‘Capriccios’, she forsakes the strongholds of sentience and control, instead opting to pore over the unconscious; a realm that she considers superior to reason. This mythologising of the mundane provides liberation from the limitations imposed by a society which is responsible for disheartening conformity and, in accounts of injustice, systemic lunacy. In her owns words “it doesn’t have to make sense. It’s probably for the best it doesn’t”.

Beyond the whimsical exterior, CHEAPER THAN THERAPY confronts the artists own proclivity for isolation and self-exile. Here, she visually articulates the solitude which she finds solace in; an island of her own creation, a retreat from the cacophony of human cruelties and harsh realities of the world we live in. “I am not afraid of God, I am afraid of Man” she explains, utilising despair and the miasma of sadness as a catalyst for her works. Preston’s lion is not just a subject; it is a conduit through which the artist channels the secret sadness of independence, a metaphor for her own human experience. A solitary lion away from its pride can to some be observed as misguided, however its self reliance and ability to fend for itself must also equally be considered.

In an era where the visual landscape is saturated with images of shock and brutality and where the news which floods into homes each night is governed by rules of ‘if it bleeds it leads’, CHEAPER THAN THERAPY takes an alternate path. Utilising Renaissance tropes, she weaves together classical techniques with contemporary perspectives, creating a visual narrative that deems to be timeless but relevant. Despite the passage of time and the advancements of technology our evolution as a society seems to have stagnated in the face of perennial moral challenges. The artist challenges us to consider whether, as a civilisation, we have truly learned from the past or if we are doomed to repeat its mistakes – “I believe we have learnt nothing” as she puts it.

Within her works she depicts her own doppelgängers, hauntingly duplicated depictions of herself which become silent observers. The employment of self portraiture intends to reflect her own personal sadness to bearing witness to ecological genocide and the fundamental flaws of man, as well as her own personal culpability, further reinforced by the exaggerated gowns worn; visual metaphors for the culture of excessive consumerism which dominates.

Despite the vivid dreamscapes, Preston wants to confront the audience with an uncomfortable truth, we are trapped in a collective slumber. CHEAPER THAN THERAPY challenges us to awaken from our reverie, urging us to confront the unsettling realities we often choose to overlook. In a society which hurtles forward at an unprecedented pace, Preston’s paintings provide a sanctuary for introspection, proving that sometimes, the most profound therapy is found in the strokes of a brush.