Elle Street Art

Before she was painting city walls, Elle was a kid drawing her cat and her pony. It didn't stop there.

"Soon after I was painting directly on my bedroom walls, fire creeping under the door, parrots sitting on light fixtures, Pokémon bursting through the drywall," she recalls. "I was making an alternate universe, one more magical, more alive."

That instinct to build worlds hasn't gone anywhere. And her process is anything but random. "I always plan ahead, especially for murals. When you have just a few days and rent pricey equipment like lifts, there's no room to wing it." Everything gets designed to scale in Photoshop first. Paint ordered, tools prepped, then execution.

Neon and spray paint

At Wynwood Walls in Miami, Elle brought together two sides of her practice that had never fully met. Decades of spray paint and a growing love for neon art. "I've been quietly learning neon bending for years, even built my own studio for it."

"It felt like a breakthrough."

After an ayahuasca ceremony left her overwhelmed by visions she thought she could never match, she found a different way to think about it. "The point isn't to match that beauty, it's to translate it, even if imperfectly."

"Especially with public art, the connection with people is part of the piece." Social media fits into that same thinking. "It lets people who'd never enter a gallery find and connect with art. It's all about access." Though she's clear that the algorithm doesn't get to decide what she makes.

What's next

This year Elle is moving into sculpture, bringing together neon, clay, and glass. "After so many trials the materials are finally coming together. It feels like a real breakthrough."

Her advice to artists just starting out is simple. "Don't listen to the noise. Just do your work. Focus on what lights you up and let everything else fade."

Follow Elle

IG: @ellestreetart

Website: ellestreetart.com

Off Record Magazine Digging deeper, looking sideways, always underground.