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Sylvain Blanchoud
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Neuchâtel, live.

A red-and-yellow striped crêpe and waffle kiosk on the shore of Lake Neuchâtel under a blue sky; two strollers sit at a table beside it.
Black and white: a white paddle steamer moored at the pier, seen head-on, its reflection trembling in the still water of the harbour.
A red boat in front of a breakwater of white rocks where bathers sunbathe, on a clear blue sea.
Black and white: Quai Ostervald in winter, its stone slabs and row of bare trees along the lake, under a pale sky.
A café terrace lit in the evening on Rue des Moulins; the scene swirls into a circular blur of blues and oranges.
Black and white: a succession of stone arches repeating towards a point of light; a few figures walk in the distance.
A rendered façade bathed in blue light, an arched wooden door lit in gold and a stone bench at the foot of the wall.
Gulls in flight over the lake; the mountains are barely visible in the haze, the picture almost white.
Black and white: an old train standing at the end of the track under the overhead wires, mountains and a heavy sky behind it.
Black and white: a wooden boat under a crumpled tarpaulin, moored among the reeds; a town climbs the hillside in the distance.
A copper-coloured storm sky over the lake and the mountains; a small figure stands at the top of a long leaning ladder.
Black and white: a magnolia bud opening at the tip of a gnarled branch, against a soft background.
Black and white: a narrow alley between tall façades; at its end, a sunlit square where a figure passes.

01 / 13

Summer Kiosk

Neuchâtel · c. 2023

Wall — Hauterive yellow

Neuchâtel's yellow stone, and the kiosk's stripes.

View the work →Edition of 3 · from CHF 6'000

Index

Thirteen works, thirteen walls.

Each photograph has been given its own wall, as in the great museum salons where the walls are painted for the work. The colour comes from the image: its light, its stone, its sky.

CameraLeica Q2
PrintingMicroPhoto, Neuchâtel
PaperHahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g
EditionThree prints. Never one more.

Editions

Three prints. Not one more.

Each photograph exists in three numbered and signed prints. After the third, the edition is closed: it will never be reopened. The prints are made in Neuchâtel, at MicroPhoto, on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g/m², framed, with a certificate.

Paper
Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 gsm, 100% cotton, certified acid-free
Edition
3 numbered copies, signed in pencil, certificate of authenticity
Studio
Printing and framing by MicroPhoto, Neuchâtel — proofs approved by the artist
Delivery
Collection from the studio in Neuchâtel — personal handover. Direct delivery to the collector available at their expense — framed and insured shipping.

Four ways of looking

Beyond the screen.

About

Two lights. One photograph.

I was born in Colombia, under a light that asks no one's permission. It pours in everywhere, it overflows, it gives itself away — generous as overripe fruit. Today I live in Neuchâtel, where light does precisely the opposite: it must be earned. It appears between two veils of mist over the lake, glides across a façade for an hour, then withdraws as if nothing had happened. All of my photography was born of the tension between these two lights — the one that shares itself, and the one that hides.

I never learned photography in a school. I learned it by walking — a great deal — and by drinking an unreasonable number of coffees while waiting for the right light. Quai Ostervald at dawn, an empty terrace in the evening, a summer kiosk out of season, a moored steamboat waiting, like me. I am not looking for the event. I am looking for the moment just before, or just after — when the world holds its breath and no one is watching.

This rigour extends all the way to the print. Each work exists in three prints, never more. Once the third print is made, the edition is closed — permanently. This is not a sales argument; it is a conviction: an image that can be reproduced endlessly no longer asks anything of anyone. By limiting my works to three prints, I give them back what photography has lost: the rarity of an encounter.

The prints are made in Neuchâtel by MicroPhoto, an artisanal lab I work with hand in hand, on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta — a paper with a presence, a grain, almost a breath of its own. Each print is numbered, signed, and accompanied by its certificate of authenticity.

If one of my images stops you — truly, even for one second longer than you intended — then it has done its work. And perhaps it was waiting for you.

The letter

One work, its wall, its story.

A few times a year. Never more.

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