LAURENT GRASSO

PARIS, FRANCE

SOUVENIRS DU FUTUR, 2010

NEONS
2,5 M X 32 M APPROX.
COURTESY OF THE ARTIST, SEAN KELLY GALLERY, NEW YORK + CHEZ VALENTIN, PARIS

Born in France in 1972, Laurent Grasso has developed a fascination with the visual possibilities related to the science of electromagnetic energy, radio waves, and naturally occurring phenomena. Grasso also explores these sciences as they apply to paranormal activity, a favorite subject of 18th century scientists and philosophers, often used as parlor entertainment during the Victorian era. Grasso uses imagery culled from cinema and art history and, working in video, sculpture and, most re- cently, painting and drawing, he recreates phenomena—both human and natural—that set up surreal and ambiguous juxtapositions of time and space. Grasso was awarded the Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2008 and is the subject of a major monograph— Laurent Grasso: The Black-Body Radiation—published by les presses du réel. Solo exhibitions in 2009 included The Horn Perspective at Centre Pompidou and Gakona at Palais de Tokyo, both in Paris. Grasso’s work was also included in this year’s 9th Sharjah Biennial (United Arab Emirates); 2009. His American public art debut, Infinite Light, was installed on the exterior of the Hunter College Lexington Avenue pedestrian walkway in New York in 2008. One of Grasso’s major temporary architectural instal- lations, Nomiya is located on the rooftop of Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

PLACE DE L’ASSEMBLE?E-NATIONALE
MAY 1 TO JUNE 13