PRESS RELEASE ~ Cholas to Picasso: The 3D Artworks of Rio Yanez

April 27, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ASTERISK SAN FRANCISCO GALLERY PRESENTS, Cholas to Picasso: The 3D Artworks of Rio Yañez

Exhibition runs: Thursday, May 3, 2012 – Friday, June 1, 2012
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 3, 2012 7PM -9PM
3156 24th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Gallery hours: Wednesday to Saturday, from 11am -7pm

Asterisk San Francisco Gallery is pleased to present Cholas to Picasso: The 3D Artworks of Rio Yanez, a collection of 3D drawings and photography. Please join us on Thursday, May 3, 2012 from 7-9pm for the exhibition opening.

As a native San Francisco artist, curator, and photographer, Yañez includes the viewer into the art experience. This show is particularly meaningful as it is Yañez’s first solo exhibition in the neighborhood where he was raised. In Cholas to Picasso: The 3D Artworks of Rio Yañez, three-dimensional works of his ongoing series, The Ramirez Sisters, depicting two siblings and their parallel lives in San Francisco’s Mission District takes on the form of sequential art. Although Yañez negates text, the images of the sisters evokes a strong sense of the how the city shapes the sisters’ individual identities. With his re-contextualization and imaginings of Frida Kahlo and Picasso inspired works, the images mesh into the contemporary fabric Yañez calls home. His photographic works depict the richness and vibrancy of San Francisco. Through Red and Cyan colored lenses, the dynamic simulation of being in these moments of creation is brought to the participant. The textures and scenes of the city enliven the urban landscape. The three-dimensional facet of the works are also kinetic and engaging as they lure the viewer into participating into the city’s infectious and energetic spirit.

About the Artist

Rio Yañez is a curator, photographer, graphic artist, and San Francisco artist. As a curator, he is a frequent collaborator with his father, Rene Yañez, and the two have been developing exhibits together since 2005. He has exhibited in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Tokyo. His reimaginings of Frida Kahlo have included the Ghetto Frida Project, a series of prints, writings, and performance pieces featuring a thugged-out Kahlo. Yañez is also a founding member of The Great Tortilla Conspiracy, the world’s most dangerous tortilla art collective. Most recently, his work is featured alongside Miguel “Bounce” Perez and Susie “Tendaroni” Lundy in current exhibition, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at the De Young Museum. Yañez received his BFA in Photography from the California Institute of the Arts. He currently works and resides in San Francisco, California.

Web: http://rioyanez.com

About Asterisk San Francisco Gallery

Asterisk San Francisco Gallery is located in San Francisco’s vibrant Mission District. The gallery was founded in January 2012 by Asterisk San Francisco co-founders Chief Editor, Jeremy Joven, and Managing Editor, Alex Winter. The gallery focuses on supporting emerging artists within the Bay Area community. It is also available for art openings and single evening events. Rental of the space is available upon request.

Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 11 am to 7 pm. To visit, please visit us at 3156 24th Street (at Shotwell), San Francisco, CA 94110.

Web: http://asterisksanfrancisco.com

Culture Criticism, Interactive / Participatory Art, Multi Media, Observations, Photography, Visual Arts

asterisk san francisco gallery, bay area, drawing, photography, rio yanez, San Francisco, sequential art

2 responses to “PRESS RELEASE ~ Cholas to Picasso: The 3D Artworks of Rio Yanez”

mel1nda

April 29, 2012 at 7:28 pm

Cholas to Picasso: The 3D Artworks of Rio Yañez was truly an attention-getting topic. To do artworks on a two-dimensional frame, but giving it 3D properties, I think, requires a lot of talent.

I don’t know who Cholas is, but everyone knows who Picasso is. (Reputedly there was a time when some of his art was intentionally made as a joke, which he himself admitted without compunction.)

His re-imaginings of Frida Kahlo, I imagine, would be an interesting collision in which her tempestuous life magnifies as a result of that 3D art; and no doubt will evoke several emotions by the onlooker.

A lot of cartoon work I see, an expressive window into the culture and generation of his youth. (By the way, cartoon art is another serious art form that is impeded of it’s full potential due to political and administrative restrictions. I don’t know if there’s any conflict of this today. )

It would be interesting to follow his art as it evolves through the years.

(Of course, you understand, the above are only renderings of what a non-artist speculates based on a few photographs and descriptions. But here’s hoping that a Plebeian viewpoint may have some value.)

More power to your friend, Rio Yañez!

Reply
1. dorothysantos
  
  May 1, 2012 at 3:17 pm
  
  Chola is actually a more colloquial or slang term. Here’s the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholo ~ The show will be great. I’m really excited to curate a show for a local artist AND in the neighborhood where he was raised. It’s always exciting to help expose native San Franciscan artists to different audience!
  
  Reply

Dorothy R. Santos

PRESS RELEASE ~ Cholas to Picasso: The 3D Artworks of Rio Yanez

2 responses to “PRESS RELEASE ~ Cholas to Picasso: The 3D Artworks of Rio Yanez”

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