sunlight draws the images in nicolas grospierre's velvet heliograms

"Polish-French artist Nicolas Grospierre presents Heliograms, a photography-adjacent series currently on show in the Salle de Salomon at the Royal Łazienki Palace in Warsaw, on view until December 31, 2026. The project centers on a singular technique: images formed not by camera, lens, or chemical development, but through the direct, months-long exposure of velvet to sunlight. Created both in the countryside of northern Poland and, for this exhibition, directly on site at the historic palace, the works reveal how the sun itself becomes a recording instrument."

"Sheets of velvet are masked with constructed forms or architectural silhouettes and then placed outdoors for four to five months. Over time, ultraviolet radiation gradually bleaches the textile, allowing an image to emerge through slow chromatic change. While the Polish-French artist determines the orientation, mask, and duration of exposure, the outcome remains partly unpredictable. Light intensity, shifting weather, and micro-variations in the environment contribute to a result that is guided yet never fully controlled."

"This interplay between precision and contingency gives Nicolas Grospierre's Heliograms their ambiguous aesthetic, poised between photography and painting. They follow a photographic logic (images produced by exposure) yet sidestep its familiar apparatus. Instead of capturing a moment, each work grows into the fabric, its contours shaped by atmospheric conditions. The resulting forms often appear like soft halos, spectral silhouettes, or faint architectures, suggesting presence through absence."

Heliograms are images created by directly exposing velvet to sunlight for four to five months, forming pictures without camera, lens, or chemical development. Velvet sheets are masked with constructed forms or architectural silhouettes and placed outdoors so ultraviolet radiation gradually bleaches the textile, producing slow chromatic change. Orientation, mask, and exposure duration are set deliberately while light intensity, weather, and micro-variations introduce unpredictability. The resulting works occupy a space between photography and painting, often showing soft halos, spectral silhouettes, or faint architectures. The series includes site-specific exposures made in northern Poland and at the Royal Łazienki Palace in Warsaw.

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