In this new series of paintings, Baptiste Laurent explores themes charged with symbolism and memory, where childhood, war scenes and the collective imagination meet in an explosion of color and movement. In his latest canvases, the artist plunges us into a world both nostalgic and rebellious, populated by enchanted merry-go-rounds, wooden knights, cowboys and Indians, while touching on the shadows of violence and war.

The merry-go-round, a symbol of childhood, recurs like a leitmotif in Laurent’s work, depicted in different forms, both joyful and disquieting. The wooden horses turn on themselves, ridden by small figures who seem suspended in time. The circular motion of the merry-go-round becomes a metaphor for repetition and dreams, but also for the illusion of freedom.

Scenes of war, present in several paintings, disrupt this playful universe and contrast sharply with the lightness of the merry-go-rounds. Baptiste Laurent explores the horrors of conflict, where violence is often hidden behind childlike appearances. The toy soldiers, figures of childhood, are confronted with the reality of war. These works question the way in which the popular imagination and toys shape a vision of the world that is sometimes murderous.

Horses, emblematic figures of freedom and power, are also omnipresent in the series. Sometimes majestic and graceful, sometimes wild and untamed, these animals embody primordial forces, linked to adventure and heroism. Baptiste Laurent stages them in compositions where animality mingles with the mythical tales of cowboys and Indians.

The artist revisits the imaginary world of cowboys and Indians, emblematic figures of the American Dream. These characters are represented here in a silent, timeless confrontation, where the innocence of childhood meets the struggles of the great historical epics. The boundary between play and reality becomes blurred, and we wonder whether this war is real or simply a reproduction of the collective imagination.

Through this series, Baptiste Laurent invites viewers to reflect on childhood and escape, but also on the struggles and conflicts that mark individuals, whether real or symbolic. His work, both poetic and incisive, takes us back to a bygone era while questioning our present.