1st Day at Art Porters Gallery

My first day began at 10:30 AM on 27th March, 2021. I arrived at Art Porters a little early so I grabbed a coffee from a café two doors down and waited for the gallery to open. As I peered into the gallery’s windows, I felt excited to see what the day had to offer and what kind of people would walk through the door!

Melvin; an Artologist (what he describes as the myriad of roles he plays at the gallery from being in hospitality, sales and marketing, networking and administrator) arrived and unlocked the glass doors. He proceeded to show me around the empty space, turning on the lights and rummaging through the store room (a secret room hidden by a mirror).

Soon, a part time gallery assistant named Rachel arrived and set her things down on a chrome table at the end of the room by the wall mirror.

Rachel was very kind and approachable. We talked about the art that’s being exhibited in museums and galleries today, she asked me what I do and what kind of works I paint, we talked about futurism and technology in art, we talked about needing to build a foundation from the past and carry that forward. She told me she found me very energetic and passionate and we got along nicely.

Rachel was also a wealth of information regarding the exhibition as she had learned researched Chloe and was happy to tell me all about her family and previous exhibitions. I tried to retain what she said so that I could tell that to the visitors.

She told me the intention for walking through the blue room dividers was so that the visitor might feel as if they were walking through the blue streets of Morocco. When they made it to the end of the room, the room dividers depicted a warm, desert landscape that contrasted the blue wonderfully and gave the sense of looking out of a window into the Moroccan land. Above, there was a bright yellow painting that depicts light filtered through trees. The act of looking up at the sunlight was symbolic of the divine, and hope that there will come a day when the Jewish people will be re-united and find a strong sense of belonging in the world.

The natural imagery of trees symbolized the interconnectedness of all Jewish people, like roots that are intertwined underground.

I briefly told them what I was here for and Melvin suggested we do a short re-enactment of guiding a visitor through the works in the gallery. I would be the visitor and he would naturally be the gallery assistant. It began like this.

First he led me to the temperature scanning machine and asked me politely to do the Safe Entry check-in by the door. He then led me to the wall text that describes Chloe’s exhibition, CASA.

Melvin led me through an imaginary winding path in between the double-sided room dividers, as this was the intended route for the visitors.

Our little exercise was cut short because there was a woman who walked in that Melvin had to attend to. She was looking for a wedding space for her clients who were considering using the art porters gallery as part of their wedding venue. She had come a little early so Rachel and I approached her and told her about Chloe and her works. The woman seemed pleased with the natural light and the art on the walls.

Initially, when a curious visitor walked through the doors and eyed the patterns and colors, I hesitated to bring myself to approach and welcome them because I hadn’t yet familiarized myself with the information pertaining to the artworks, Chloe’s intended context for the works and Chloe’s background.

There was a QR code beneath the wall text that opened to a page that contained more information about the above. I read and re-read it, trying to remember the important bits.

Presently, a man walked in and I decided to guide him. I did what Melvin asked regarding Safe Entry and temperature checking, and began to talk to him about the exhibition. I was nervous and tripped up on a lot of my words; I jumped from artwork to artwork without letting the man linger and take his time with each piece. I was so focused on getting my words out and ensuring that the information accurate, that I distracted him from the pieces.

Fortunately, the man was very patient, attentive and interested in what I was sharing with him. He contributed to the conversation with his own perspectives and interpretations of the artworks. He was friendly and put me at ease so that I was able to calm down a little and remain silent as he walked through the room.

I led him through the secret door to gallery no.2 as Guillueme had advised.

The man was enthralled by the works and let me explain (to the best of my abilities) about the various artists, their techniques and creative concepts.

I asked him what his occupation was and he said he works with computers and finances. He mentioned that there was an element of functional design to what he did for a living which I found interesting. He had never been to Art Porters before although he lived very close by, he mentioned, laughing. He was going for a walk through the neighborhood as he had the day off and came upon Chloe’s exhibition.

We had a pleasant conversation, using the artworks as the contextual backdrop for our discussion.

Rachel joined us and led us to another painting by an artist that he was particularly drawn to. We stood before the work, pondering the artist’s choices, elements of the work, the subject matter and the emotions behind it. I found that he was very intuitive and perceptive and had a deep interest and curiosity for art. He had to take his leave soon after and bid us goodbye, thanking me for talking to him.

I took my lunch break from 12:45 to about 1:30 PM. During my break, I walked around the narrow alleyways and lanes in the neighborhood.

I was entranced by the intricate, patterned tiles, the beautiful plants and ornate, colorful doors and windows.

When I returned to the gallery, there was an older couple casually walking around the space. The woman started a conversation with me, saying that she taught theology in England. She was extremely intelligent, both emotionally and academically. She told me that love and wisdom can be found in our backyard, even though we often travel the world in search of it. Her dress that was of a beautiful floral pattern had been made especially for her and she blended in with Chloe's artworks wonderfully!

I enjoyed talking to her because she was so receptive of what I told her about Chloe’s works and was able to add her own imaginative spin on it. She also shared with me that her husband had stage four cancer, so she did not take life lightly and had deep faith in her God. I wanted to pity her but I felt that she did not need my pity, as she was tougher than most.

She viewed Chloe’s works through the lens of faith and mentioning ever so often that it will be the younger generation that changes the world! Speaking with her energized me because it was a pleasure to have a lively conversation with an interesting person that I otherwise would not have been able to meet and talk to.

So much of my interaction with the viewers is memorizing the information about Chloe and her artworks. I enjoy when the viewers are able to add layers of their own to the works so that the conversation expands from the starting point of the information that I share about the works. Learning from my colleague Jarren, I use their insight in the next interaction that I have with a new visitor, so that the meaning and intention of her artworks expand organically. I learned that it is not so much of me explaining the artworks, as if I am presenting them to a class, but rather allowing the conversation to unfurl on its own.

There are certain visitors that prefer to take their time walking alone through the space and absorbing the visuals. There are others who are immediately curious about who the artist is and what she conceptualized, while there are still others who ask about the market value of the works, the price of the piece and the relationship between the gallery and the artist.

Naturally, on my first day, I was ill equipped to handle many of such conversations.

I timidly followed Melvin and Rachel around and listened along with the visitors to the manner in which they spoke about the artworks and the artists. Both had familiarized themselves with the exhibition and were comfortable speaking in front of a group of strangers. I hoped that my second day would be a little less nerve wracking and I would be able to communicate with the guests in a calm and responsive way.

I left Art Porters close to closing time at 7 PM, taking a bus home.

I was happy to travel through parts of Singapore that I hadn’t seen before.