artist interview: élise

artist interview: élise

élise is an 18 years old french canadian artist who doesn’t know how to describe herself so her girlfriend had to help her. “she’s what you could call a work in progress as everyday is a chance to discover more about herself and the world which influences who she is. being a gemini, she’s very indecisive but she’s of a few things: her love of ferrets and of rewatching the same harry potter movies over and over convincing herself that she is a slytherin.”

can you describe your artistic style, or general aesthetic?

my style of art is interlaced with my aesthetic. i think my art is some kind of surrealism, mixed with somewhat of impressionism inspired paint strokes. i love mixing portraits of pretty girls with elements of nature such as insects and plants. my aesthetic is centered around the same elements. it is clouds on summer days and butterfly wings, translucent and colorful. i also tend to juxtapose cuteness with unsettling themes especially when it comes to writing.

—the rebirth of Ophelia, acrylics and watercolor on paper, 2018

do you think your stale has changed over time?

i do not think my artistic style has changed over time. however, i’ve gotten better at executing my ideas. i’ve always had an idea of what i wanted my art to look like, but as my abilities have improved, due to practice and time, my art now reflects more of my desired style.

what are you working on at the moment?

i’m always working on many artistic projects at the same time, whether it is planning them out or actually creating them. a very exciting project i’m planning consists of a dozen of art collabs with people from all around the world. i am gonna paint half of a rectangle, of acrylic paper, with a design or a texture and send all of the rectangles to other young artists who will have to create something different on the other half of the paper without being able to see what i did. the final result will be out of my control which is scary but also fun. i’m also working on a big poster i am making to decorate my college dorm. one of my main artistic goals for this year is to learn more film photography.

do you have any other artistic goals you want to achieve?

the truth is that i don’t have that many specific artistic goals even though i do have lots projects. i want to improve in many areas such as realism when it comes to painting and capturing a subject in unique ways through photography.

in what ways do you think photography differs from art?

traditional art consists of making something out of nothing expect an idea in ur head. photography is more about taking what you already have and capturing it in the way that you intended.

—heartworms, acryl on canvas, 2019

where do you draw your inspiration from?

i draw my inspiration from everything and anything. when it comes to creating sometimes the most unexpected of situations bring the most inspiration to me. a few weeks ago, during class my microbiology teacher mentioned a mushroom thats called ‘’ angel of death’’ (amanita ocreata) and soon you will be able to spot those exact mushroom on one of my art pieces. i keep record of my thoughts, emotions and ideas during the day and they multiply like worms on their own. feelings such as love, envy or sadness are also the root of some of my art as well as music and other people’s writing and art pieces.

do you ever have artist’s block? and yes, how do you deal with it?

yes, sometimes. what i tend to do is to keep creating through it even if i’m not inspired because creating in quantity, even if it lacks creativity and therefore quality, is helpful to improve skills. i try to remind myself that all the art i create is good because art itself no matter what form it takes is good.

putréfaction, 2018

2007, somewhen in the afternoon

heart-shaped clips attached to my brain, i entered the room tethered to my moms hand, wonder and curiosity spilling out of my mouth and staining my cheeks peach. a room full of flying orchids fluttering, landing on awaiting arms. overwhelming sight of living beauty for my 7 year old self who runs out the door drowning in childhood tears, my eyes red stained glass.

march 12th, 2018, mid afternoon

i went to the room again that day, no clips in my hair. the fear was already gone by the time i got there. i think i could hear them couldn't i? (yes, i still do) the wings flapping against my lung tissues, rainlike, muffled, monotone sounds arising for my own vessel. a heart, filled with chrysalis, veins infested with larvae and eggs, i am, since, the host to the most beautiful of parasites. affection grew in every one of my organs like lilies in the early spring sunshine. whoever said butterflies are reserved to stomachs must have never met aphrodite herself.

june 26th 2018, late, unable to sleep

every touch is a new discovered blessing. holy words slit open my tongue as i ask for your lips on that moonless basement bound night. the darkness is total but your eyes shine, reflection of the magic held by your atoms. i want to map every inch of you skin with soft butterfly kisses, a celestial constellation that im oh so lucky to witness. by then im infested, molded to the bone by feelings words can't bear to decompose as it is suprathreshold. every philosopher from anders to weil begs me on their knees to stop writing. i step on their graves, to their demise, my fingertips carry faelike light and i know now (as if i hadn't known before) that as long as i have you, it is okay. if loving you is a sin, i hope lucifer saves me a spot where i crawled out of.

march 18th 2019, 3:33 PM

can a single butterfly’s delicate flight, cause a tornado somewhere else?

mere thoughts of your existence create cataclysms in my international body, laws of causality and the theory of chaos make my answers to these profound questions so easy.

if you could go back in time and speak to your younger self what would you say?

i ought to tell her about luck (how lucky i am to be) or that angels are real. i should tell my younger self to keep her young heart and love-shaped clips, that insects are harmless, definitely deserving of my past appreciation. nevertheless, travelling the horizontal dimension of life backwards seems like a grave mistake. from the first colony of bacteria in the midst of the underworld, to the evolution of species by darwin, i’m so lucky that the entire universe wanted us to meet. i lay my head on your beating chest and discover purpose in this existence.

—butterflies, by élise

lovesick, acryl on canvas. 2019

what do you think about the notion that the artistic life is lonely?

i think that, for me, the act of creating is something i need to do alone. despite that, there’s a distinction between loneliness and being alone, in which i am creating alone but feeling connected to the world through my art.

you can find her on

redbubble: moonlitgf

instagram: wormange