Rio Yañez (born in 1980) is an American curator and artist. He is based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

Biography

Rio Yañez was born in 1980 at

San Francisco General Hospital The Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) is a public hospital in San Francisco, California, under the purview of the city's Department of Public Health. It serves as the only Level I trauma c ...

in San Francisco, California to artists Yolanda Lopez and René Yañez. His parents separated after a few years but they remained as neighbors in the same building in the

Mission District The Mission District ( Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as the Mission ( Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name ...

in San Francisco. Yañez attended

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

and received a BFA degree in 2005. Rio and René Yañez collaborated on art for many years, starting in 2005. He has been active with his art at Galeria de la Raza, SOMArts, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, among others. Yañez was a member of the food-based art group ''The Great Tortilla Conspiracy ''making tortilla art, other members include Joseph "Jos" Sances, René Yañez, and Art Hazelwood. In 2014, Rio Yañez moved to the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland. After his father passed away in 2018, Rio took up the role as co-curator of the annual

Día de los Muertos The Day of the Dead () is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. The multi-day holiday involves family and friends gathering to pa ...

in the Mission District.

References

1980 births Artists from San Francisco American artists of Mexican descent Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area Mexican-American culture in California California Institute of the Arts alumni Living people {{US-artist-stub