| Rio Yañez | |
| Birth Place: | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Education: | California Institute of the Arts |
| Known For: | Curator, artist |
| Mother: | Yolanda Lopez |
| Father: | René Yañez |
Rio Yañez (born in 1980) is an American curator and artist.[1] He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Rio Yañez was born in 1980 at San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco, California to artists Yolanda Lopez and René Yañez.[2] [3] His parents separated after a few years but they remained as neighbors in the same building in the Mission District in San Francisco. Yañez attended California Institute of the Arts and received a BFA degree in 2005. Rio and René Yañez collaborated on art for many years, starting in 2005.[4] He has been active with his art at Galeria de la Raza, SOMArts, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, among others.[5]
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.[6] [7]
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 in the Mission District.[8]