Meeting Le Yack: from street art to neo-realism

Where his name comes from, how you go from thirty years as an art director to the studio, and why he refuses to be pigeonholed: an interview.

In today’s crowded art world, some careers stand out because they refuse labels. Alexandre, who signs as Le Yack, is one of them. An art director in publishing for nearly thirty years, a graphic designer, illustrator and video maker, he knows the grammar of images inside out. He is also a graduate of the School of Fine Arts. That duality is his strength.

Where does the name “Le Yack” come from?

“The name goes back to the time when I did a lot of video reporting in the field. I used a camera with a microphone fitted with a big furry windshield to cut the wind. To me, that thing looked like a yak! It became a nickname on shoots first, and it stuck. When I came back to painting seriously, it was a fun, natural way to bridge my past behind the camera and my present as an artist.”

How do you go from thirty years of images to the studio?

“It wasn’t a break, more of a reconnection. I spent a large part of my life in publishing as an art director. That is where I sharpened my eye for composition, typography and visual impact. I am a Fine Arts graduate: I know my classics, the technique, art history. That culture is my foundation.”

“The trigger came, as it did for many people, during Covid. Time stood still. I reopened my old student boxes full of sketches. The urge to take it all up again, to get my hands back into paint, was visceral.”

A woman in a beige trench coat on the telephone in a glazed phone box, at dusk, before a wet street where a vintage car passes. — Ne quittez pas · oil on canvas, 70 × 70 cm

How would you define your style?

“I am a born experimenter, and I really don’t want to box myself in. I started again with a street-art and pop-art style for my first exhibition, at L’Empreinte Galerie in Orléans. I love that mix of genres, that immediate, punchy graphic culture: that is the art director in me speaking.”

“Over time my work is moving towards a more neo-realist, more introspective style, perhaps more ‘painting’ in the noble sense of the word. I start from the classics, from the academic grounding I master, to try to make something new. I don’t want to choose between the energy of urban graphics and the depth of realism, and I stand by the curiosity that makes me keep questioning my work.”