Cristina Astilleros is a Spanish artist based in Florence whose practice explores the poetry of desolation, the decontextualisation of matter, and the boundaries of figurative representation.

She holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Castilla-La Mancha and later received a scholarship to specialise in traditional printmaking techniques at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (HGB) in Germany.

Her work stems from an early awareness of the fragility of existence, the passage of time, and the mortal condition. From this emerged a personal imagery inhabited by creatures suspended between the familiar and the strange, beauty and unease — figures outside conventional ideals, through which she seeks to reveal a beauty and dignity of their own.

This imaginary world also demanded a material language of its own. Her interest in the decontextualisation of elements and in their behaviour when brought together outside their original environment led her to develop a distinctive technique combining traditional printmaking processes with pigments, transfers, and object-based elements. Printmaking moved beyond the confines of paper, images acquired physical presence, and materials of different origins came together to become something new.

This body of work received several awards, including INJUVE 2006, Creajoven 2009, the 967Arte Jury Prize, and Process Room. Her work has been presented at Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, ARCO Madrid, and ArtMadrid, as well as in exhibitions in Spain and abroad, and is held in public and private collections.

After several years away from her artistic practice, Astilleros returned to art through a new territory: figurative drawing and painting. Following an initial experience in classical academic training at The Angel Academy of Art, she is currently undertaking the Three-Year Drawing & Painting Program at The Florence Academy of Art.

This new chapter does not leave her previous universe behind, but returns to it through a different language — allowing the discipline of classical drawing and painting to enter into dialogue with an imagery that has accompanied her work from the beginning.