Begun in 2009, the series of works grouped together under the generic title Studies into the Past is a remarkable demonstration of the extent to which Laurent Grasso's work is permeated by a reflection on time. This is a group of works - drawings and oils on wood panel - in a style and facture inspired by 15th and 16th century Flemish and Italian painters such as Fra Angelico, Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello, Andrea Mantegna and Pieter Brueghel the Elder. This chapter in the history of painting is, however, troubled by the presence of foreign bodies perfectly integrated into the compositions.
The narrative references characteristic of the period, whether mythological or religious, have been replaced by celestial phenomena, of which there are few pictorial representations before the 19th century 1 - eclipses, aurora borealis, meteorites, etc.
The insertion of these elements into a painting from the past generates more than just anachronistic effects. Studies into the Past is to be understood as a vast conceptual project aimed at reconstructing our idea of reality in another era. Conceived as if they belonged to another time, even if they are current, the works are produced using scientifically reconstituted historical methods. By mixing times in this way, Laurent Grasso seeks to create what he calls a “false historical memory”, so that it becomes impossible, in the distant future, to situate the era in which these works were produced. It's as if we could manipulate their historicity, in other words, intervene in such a way as to alter their relationship to time.