Laurent Grasso’s mysterious, beautiful videos might be called aesthetic documentaries. Taking as their subject places and things that hold some deep well of sociological or historical meaning, his works grab onto overlooked or hidden slices of experience and open them up to a wider audience. The intricate patterns drawn by flocks of birds over the Vatican in Les Oiseaux; the haunting, monstrous sculptures hidden in Bamarzo, Italy’s Bosco di Mostri in Bamarzo; the jerky, harrowing flight of a falcon in On Air; these works make thoroughly visible that which you would either never get to see, or would never think to look for.
Along with a set of installations and paintings, the videos feature prominently in Uraniborg, Grasso’s new exhibition now on view at the Jeu de Paume in Paris. Composed of a warren of corridors and rooms painted black, the show is brilliantly installed. As you twist and turn through each long, high hallway, you catch glimpses of the videos, through wholes cut in the partitions. Occasionally you turn and come face to face with seems to be some unknown Old Masters painting, only to find that its uncanny little details – a giant black sun, or an immense, claustrophobic flock of birds – place its creation firmly in the present. Much as in his videos, Grasso with this installation piques the viewer’s interest, pulling him or her slyly along towards to reveal what would have never been known. It’s a wonderful marriage of space and content. If you’re in Paris, go see this before the Richter.
Uraniborg
Until September 23
Jeu de Paume
1 Place de la Concorde
Paris
A still from Les Oiseaux, and a painting from the series Studies into the past
