Meeting Chloe Manasseh

I first discovered Chloe Manasseh’s work and vision in July 2020, through an article that had done an extensive piece on the themes, aesthetics and underlying concepts that she had been exploring in her work throughout her career. I admired her ability to integrate psychotherapy and painting by using organic imagery and weaving abstractions such as memory, identity and nature within her works. I myself, found these subjects endlessly fascinating because through my years in the Diploma program at the McNally School of Fine Arts at LaSalle, I had studied and explored similar concepts. There were many parallels between her practice and mine and thus, I found it extremely exciting and deeply comforting to see an established artist continue to succeed in a field that I was interested in.

Upon finding her on Instagram, I immediately shot her a quick message about how inspiring her work is to me and whether she’d be interested to meet for a coffee to have a chat about her work and her journey, so that I could gain some clarity on how to move forward in my own work and career. Quite soon, she responded to me; thanking me and accepting my invitation. We talked about our works and she seemed very kind and friendly. However, due to the nature of last year, no plans were confirmed and many months passed. Circuit Breaker was lifted and Singapore moved into Phase 3.

About a month prior to the beginning of my last semester at LaSalle, the pressure to secure an internship began to increase. Never having interned before, I was both nervous and excited for the challenges that would present themselves to me. If I had the fortune to choose my ideal internship, it would be to either work at a gallery or to be an artist’s assistant.

Lo and Behold! Chloe was listed amongst other internship providers on the list given to us by our school! I was thrilled to find that she was looking for an artist assistant to help out with stretching canvases and other tasks in preparation for her exhibition in March. I immediately sent her my cover letter and CV because I could not imagine a better opportunity than to work for and learn from her. She thanked me for the interest and suggested a meeting time at Lowercase on the 24th of December for a brief and informal interview.

I was scheduled to meet her at 4 PM. Two of my classmates (both extremely helpful and talented) had been interviewed before me and I was nervous about being the last one that she was going to see. I attempted to calm myself and remove all pressure from the interaction by simply being grateful that I finally had the opportunity to have that coffee with her.

She was all smiles and greeted me warmly. She told me that there would be a lot of physical labor involved and this internship wasn’t for the faint hearted (some nails might break)! I told her I was excited to learn as much as I could about all the messy aspects of being an artist and setting up an exhibition. She told me she would happily teach me oil painting techniques as well as help me in any way she could,; all I had to do was ask! And she stressed upon asking her because she would have a lot on her mind prior to her exhibition and would need a few reminders here and there. She shared some rough blueprints of the exhibition space with me and talked about what she intended to create for the space. I had never seen the inner workings of an artist before and I tried to take as much of it in as I could!

She was kind enough to tell me that I could choose when to come in and assist her and that I didn’t have to work on the weekends either. She also told me she would introduce me to her studio mates and possibly even her family (her husband and father used to help her with all the prep work)! I was so happy to listen to such a genuine and down to earth artist talking to a potential intern so openly. I felt at home in her presence right away! I imagined spending long hours working for her and learning from her and absorbing the creative juices in the space that her and her studio mates shared.

At the end of our little chat, she told me that she was giving me the position of intern and I couldn’t believe my ears! I had her clarify what she said a few times after that! I left beaming and excited to begin!