Our Artists Guillaume Grasset
With an acute awareness and a free spirit, French photographer Guillaume Grasset seeks out new visual spaces, exploring deserted playgrounds, bright & natural environments, vibrant megalopolises to emphasize the place left to nature.
Full biography of Guillaume Grasset
About the series: Angelino Heights
The Historic District of Angelino Heights in
Los Angeles California is the second oldest district in the city, built around
1888 during a three-year economic boom. Most of the houses that were bought cheaply during this time,
fell with the financial catastrophe, and many were destroyed as fast as they
were built. The residents of this district, sad to see these amazing buildings
disappear, decided to bring in other Victorian houses into the neighborhood to help
preserve them. Angelino Heights now has the largest quantity of Victorian homes
in LA, even if most of them weren’t built there.
These
architectural works of art set the backdrop for countless motion pictures, from
the earliest days of cinema to the present, often illustrating San
Francisco. In Grasset’s series,
The Sanders House, here called Thriller
House, named after Michael Jackson’s music video, was also the house used
in the movie Psycho. Also in this
work, is The Phelps House, which was used in the TV series Charmed, and The Foy House, which was the set for Client Eastwood’s
movie, J.Edgar.
Guillaume
Grasset’s images capture the unique, haunting beauty of this neighborhood, and
the passion for history that its inhabitants resonate.
5 QUESTIONS FOR GUILLAUME GRASSET ABOUT HIS SERIES
Why did you choose this subject?
I never knew about this neighborhood until I drove into it a few months ago.
What do you see when you look at these photos?
I felt like being on a empty movie set. It translates the whole story of the Hollywood industry, starting from the silent movies to sitcom series and music videos.
What research and production did you go through to make these images?
I came back several times to the location and had the chance to meet the passionate people of this neighborhood who invited me to listen to the stories of their houses in the oldest part of LA.
Do your images help the viewer understand the subject in a new way?
These images are witnessing the beauty of these masterpieces.
What did you learn by making these images?
LA is full of surprises and so are the local people.
