ARTISTS Yann C

My Mountains

Yann C was born in Gap, at the foothills of the French Alps.
Distance is the true core of his work.
Growing up among the mountains, Yann C carries that landscape in his heart.
Those Alps where he played as a child and lived as a young man remain a deep visual memory, now translated into his picture-sculptures in resin and bronze.

He often says that his works can only be fully understood from afar just like mountains.
Up close, you notice the material, the relief, the tiny marks, the subtle touches of color.
But when you step back, the composition finally comes together.
Profiles align. Details begin to speak to one another. Harmony emerges.
It’s the same experience you have in front of a mountain range: only from a distance can you truly perceive its full form and beauty.

His picture-sculptures are filled with micro-details that almost disappear at close range.
From afar, a quiet magic happens. Shapes reconnect, volumes balance, and hidden elements become visible.
And then there is the shadow.
Each relief projects precise, lateral shadows that recall mountain ridges silhouettes that echo the Alps of his childhood. Yann C himself explains that these shadows (image 9) come directly from that original landscape.

His picture-sculptures carry the memory of those mountains within them.
In this sense, his works behave like the Alps: they ask for space, distance, and time.
They don’t reveal themselves immediately, they reveal themselves by stepping back.
Everything returns to the beginning: an artist born at the edge of the Alps, who later leaves for work, yet continues to carry those mountains inside.
His picture-sculptures preserve that origin geographic memory transformed into relief, light, and shadow.

Not just animals. Not just portraits.
But an origin, seen from afar.