Michelle Delisle is a contemporary artist based in Florida whose work is influenced by her urban upbringing in Toronto and the music-driven culture of the analog era. She holds a degree in Illustration from Sheridan College and has a professional background in fashion, gallery ownership, and fine art.
Inspired by new wave music, underground club culture, nightlife, and the emotional freedom of the 1980s and 1990s, Delisle’s signature series, Raised on Static, explores memory, identity, rebellion, and self-expression through expressive portraiture and abstraction. Her paintings are not literal self-portraits, but emotional reflections of how she felt growing up during that era.
Delisle serves on the board of the Ormond Memorial Art Museum & Gardens and is Vice President of the Florida Women's Arts Association.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Raised on Static is a contemporary painting series exploring personal memory, emotional atmosphere, and the cultural identity of Generation X. Inspired by my experiences growing up during the analog era of the 1980s and 1990s, the work reflects the emotional influence of music, nightlife, fashion, rebellion, and self-discovery rather than literal autobiography.

Working primarily in acrylic on canvas, I combine expressive portraiture with abstraction using layered brushwork, gestural marks, dyes, charcoal, paint splatters, graffiti-inspired elements, and atmospheric color. Beneath the surface, traces of lace patterns and repeated templates create layered visual histories that mirror the fragmented nature of memory.

A recurring circular form appears throughout the series as a symbolic reference to records, CDs, speakers, and the emotional connection music once held within analog culture. Through these paintings, I explore themes of identity, nostalgia, authenticity, vulnerability, and the lasting emotional imprint of youth and music culture.