Duration: 10:24 min
Edition: 1/5 + 2 AP
Archival: DVD
Exhibition copy: mp4 digital file
Signed Certificate of Authenticity
Provenance: Galerie Chez Valentin
View Artist Profile
“The idea is to construct a floating viewpoint, thereby creating a discrepancy in relation to reality. We move from one viewpoint to another, and that's also how we manufacture states of consciousness.”
L’eclipse, 2006 offers a studious meditation on the supernatural visual phenomenon created by a total solar eclipse occurring at sunset. L’eclipse shows the changing imagery, colors, and shapes produced by the advancement of the moon’s shadow in front of the larger, setting sun. Over the ten minutes and 24 seconds of the film, the yellow sun slowly is slowly engulfed by the red shadow of the moon – also the color of the sky. To create this video, Grasso used advanced film technology to stage a pseudo-eclipse occurring at the same time as a sunset – a supernatural phenomenon that would not take place in real life. In talking about L’eclipse, Grasso said, “I decided to make my own false miracle, mixing a sunset and an eclipse to make something very rare, and a little bit supernatural.” This play on perception is a hallmark of Grasso’s practice and ties this work into his oeuvre.
[1] Laurent Grasso, quoted in “Laurent Grasso Biography,” Sean Kelly Gallery, http://origin.www.skny.com/artists/laurent-grasso (accessed October 8, 2020).