EXHIBITIONS

Metaphysical Maze: Laurent Grasso at Frederic Church’s Olana and the Thomas Cole Site is a joint exhibition of works by acclaimed French conceptual artist Laurent Grasso (b. 1972, France) taking place at Olana, the home and designed landscape of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, the historic home and studios of Thomas Cole (1801-1848).

The joint exhibition accompanies Grasso’s largest ever solo exhibition to date in the United States at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, Metaphysical Maze.

At Olana, Grasso’s installation will be centered on an immersive presentation of the artist’s 2023 film Orchid Island within the context of the Dining Room / Picture Gallery of Olana’s Main House. Elsewhere, new paintings from Grasso’s ongoing series Studies into the Past will be hung alongside artworks by Frederic Church, “infiltrating” the visitor’s sense of the historical past.

Grasso’s Studies into the Past series has drawn direct inspiration from 19th-century American artists of the Hudson River School, particularly Frederic Church. Church’s fascination with Prussian explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, whose seminal work Cosmos articulated the interconnectedness of science, the natural world, and spiritual concerns, is echoed in Grasso’s contemporary conceptual works exploring the links between the sciences and artistic exploration.

For more information about Metaphysical Maze at the Thomas Cole Site, visit https://thomascole.org/metaphysicalmaze/

About the Artist:

Born in France in 1972, Laurent Grasso’s projects attempt to capture and restore phenomena invisible to the human eye and mind. Combining the most forward-looking scientific theories and tools with ancient beliefs, his works invite us to travel through time and into a collision of worlds. His multidisciplinary works explore the intersections of cosmology, science, and history. Grasso is the recipient of France’s Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Marcel Duchamp Prize, and the Meru Art*Science Award in Bergamo, Italy. He is the subject of a major monograph, Time Travel, published by Rizzoli in 2024. His work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the Kunsthaus Basel in Switzerland, the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Montréal, MASS MoCA in Massachusetts, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C. He recently created several permanent installations in public spaces, including Solar Wind on the Paris ring road, Roots of the Future, a group of sculptures installed at the 2024 Paris Olympic Village, and Ciel d’Argent at Châtillon Montrouge station on the Grand Paris Express, scheduled to open in 2027. Laurent Grasso is represented by Perrotin, Sean Kelly, and Pedro Cera.

Metaphysical Maze: Laurent Grasso at Frederic Church’s Olana and the Thomas Cole Site is organized at Olana State Historic Site by The Olana Partnership in cooperation with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, and in collaboration with the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and MASS MoCA.

The Metaphysical Maze project is curated by Denise Markonish.

This project is supported by donors to The Olana Partnership’s Frederic Church 200 Fund, with special appreciation to members of the Frederic Church 200 Committee. The Olana Partnership thanks Sean Kelly, New York, for their generous support of this exhibition.

Programming and exhibitions organized by The Olana Partnership are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

The Olana Partnership is the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit cooperative partner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation at Olana State Historic Site.