Rio Yañez is back on the pod to talk about two recent projects he’s been working on. The first is a current exhibition at the Thacher Gallery at the University of San Francisco titled Studio Misión: The Artist Studio as Medium by René Yañez. The focus of the exhibition is the world and creative process of Rio’s father René Yañez during his final years from 2016 to 2018. The second is this year’s Día de Los Muertos exhibition at SOMARTS titled City of Souls. Curated by both Rio and Carolina Quintanilla, this year’s exhibition features work to honor and manifest Rio’s father and founding curator Rene Yañez’s vision for his final Día de Los Muertos exhibition, titled City of Souls, a reference to his 2001 exhibition City of Miracles.

For more info on Studio Misión visit https://www.usfca.edu/thacher-gallery.

For more info on City of Souls visit https://www.somarts.org

Rio Yañez
Studio Misión: The Artist Studio as Medium by René Yañez at the Thacher Gallery at USF
Studio Misión at the USF Thacher Gallery
The Great Tortilla Conspiracy at Studio Misión
City of Souls, 2019 Dia de Los Muertos exhibition at SOMARTS

My guest this week is Rio Yañez, an artist/curator born and raised in San Francisco’s Mission District. I met up with Rio at his home in the East Bay where he shared about his time growing up in the Mission District’s Chicano art scene, his fascination with Godzilla and his early beginnings as a photographer. We also discussed the various art projects he has worked on including the annual Día de los Muertos exhibition he co-curates with his father at the South of Market Cultural Center (SomArts).

Titled Remembrance and Resistance, the Día de los Muertos exhibition is currently on exhibit at SomArts til November 9th, 2017. Visit www.somarts.org for more info.

Be sure to also visit www.rioyanez.com to learn more about Rio and his past, present and future projects. You can also follow him on either Instagram or Twitter at @rioyanez.

Lastly, thanks again to Richie Cunning for the intro music.