Soft morning light spills across the studio floor in Bushwick, New York, catching the quiet mess of paint tubes, half-finished canvases, and clay forms mid-thought. It’s a space that listens. “I love arriving at the studio and prepping a fresh French press coffee, lighting some essential oils, and having a nice stretch before I start.” There’s a soulful simplicity to the way Cloe Galasso moves through her space — each gesture part ritual, part grounding. In this intimate setting, photographer Anouk Brouwer captures Cloe in quiet communion with her own becoming — sculpting form from feeling, turning energy into presence.
Cloe, your work is deeply influenced by Chinese metaphysical traditions. When did you first feel a personal connection to the idea of “Qi” – and how did it begin to inform your creative process?
In 2018, I started working for a facilitator of Chinese metaphysics as an illustrator. As anyone who is not into the subject, I was a bit skeptical about it. But after two years, I started realizing that what she would predict was true. In 2020, when I started my art career, I wanted to paint something to inform people, to transmit a message. That’s when I started including this knowledge in my art, to try to transmit it to the spectators and make them aware of all these energies that may help us live our lives in harmony.
You describe your art as a “portrait of energy.” What does that energy feel like to you, and how do you know when you’ve captured it?
At the beginning of the process, I knew I wanted to paint this energy that connects the universe with Earth, but there is no depiction of it. I closed my eyes with a piece of clay and started sculpting how it felt inside me and how I felt it moved around us. That’s how this shape that is repeated in my artworks came to life.
Many of your works seem to blur the line between the material and the spiritual. How do you balance intuition with technique?
Mainly, it combines both material and spiritual to be able to transmit that these energies are within our reach, that we can work with them. It’s a difficult thing to balance, but I just let my intuition flow when sketching my work, while the technique is something that just came naturally, almost with closed eyes. I remember the first time I painted a hand, I was just thinking the whole time I was painting sausages, and once I stepped away from the canvas, there was a hand.
“I feel most in my flow when I can connect with nature and with my inner self.”
Coming from Buenos Aires and now working across cities like New York and Milan – how has your sense of identity evolved between these different cultural landscapes?
It’s been a challenge that kept me reinventing myself in every corner. At the moment, I’m on the verge of finding myself again, and it’s a process that will never stop. Putting yourself in front of different and diverse cultures, at least in my experience, just made me want to be the best version of myself every day, which leads to constant change and evolution.
The shoot took place in your studio. Do you follow a daily ritual there, or do you let the energy lead the way?
I got this studio in November 2024, and it’s been home for my art since then. I love arriving there and prepping a fresh French press coffee, lighting some essential oils, and having a nice stretch before I start my creative process—following practically blindly the energy that’s inside me and around me each day.
When do you feel most in flow?
I feel most in my flow when I can connect with nature and with my inner self. When I home myself in my routines—balancing work, nature, workouts, and time to be out and around to discover new places, people, and experiences.
What does home mean to you?
At the moment, I’m trying to find my home again. It means a feeling, it means my people, my brushes, and oils. It’s been a hard year—2025 till now—for me, so I find myself in a process of rediscovering what home is and how I want to shape my routine around it.
“I remember the first time I painted a hand, I was just thinking the whole time I was painting sausages — and once I stepped away from the canvas, there was a hand.”
Where do you turn when you feel disconnected?
I mostly turn directly to nature. When living in Buenos Aires, I would climb up trees with my sketchbook to draw. I even used to take my lunch with me and spend hours hiding in the branches and leaves.
When living in Milan, I had the same experience. But New York life is completely different. Disconnecting here has led me to dive into the gym, go to galleries and museums by myself, but also spend hours in my favorite bars, laughing with friends, hopping from one place to another.
How do you recharge your own energy?
I usually travel once a year to the south of Argentina, to Lake Lacar, which is one of the most energetic places in the world. I’ve been doing this since my father got cancer. I remember sitting on the rocky shore and feeling the freezing water on my feet, recharging me and calming me down. In fact, many of my paintings depict the landscape you can find there.
In my day-to-day, lying in the grass barefoot also helps me recharge—especially if the sun hits directly on my skin.
The most important thing in life is?
My family, my friends, and my cat Emma. I live for the people that surround me, and many times I’ve left my health and well-being to the side. I am slowly learning to keep being myself but also to look after my needs, so I can continue giving them the purest love and care I can offer.
Photographer: Anouk Brouwer @anoukdbrouwer
Muse & Artist: Cloe Galasso @cloegalasso
Wearing: @insomnia.studio @mydearestworld @iamgia
Location: Bushwick, New York
