Nicole Gustafsson’s Crystalline Painted Worlds

Nicole Gustafsson paints ecosystems that float. Angular planets hang in mysterious galaxies, holding crystals, luminescent waterfalls and alien plant life, some of them lit by two or three moons at once. The palette borrows the pastels of 1980s science fiction and video games, but the geography is nothing our own solar system has produced.

She works in Acryla Gouache applied directly to wood panel, drawing on two series — Celestial Spaces and Fantastic Spaces — both grown out of an interest in space and mineral studies. Surface matters here: the flat opacity of gouache on board suits worlds that are meant to look sealed off.

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