Collected materials of René Yañez and Cynthia “Kiki” Wallis; predominantly original art, prints, and photographic documentation of the historical origins and contemporary practices of the California Chicano and Border Arts movements. 

These materials (rare event flyers, independent magazines, artists’ books, postcards, GDLR business documents, exhibition notes, scripts, painted tortillas, experimental collage art, pencil sketches, photographic negatives, sculpture, and other performance ephemera)  include documentation of René Yañez’s famed Day of the Dead Exhibits and the seminal Frida Khalo show in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1978, and demonstrate the extent of Yañez’s cultural influence beyond the Mission community and around the world. 

To request item-level detail of many of the portfolios in this archive (in .xls format) contact [email protected].
 
Languages: English and Spanish
Bulk of Materials: 1970s – 2010s
Item count: 14,205 items

Notable Galleries, Exhibitions: Alliance Graphics, ASCO, Chicano Visions, Day of the Dead, Chicano Visions, City of Miracles, Frida Kahlo, Galería de la Raza, Great Tortilla Conspiracy, Mexterminator, No on 187 Campaign, SOMARTS (South of Market Cultural Center), Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF), Teatro Campesino
 
Notable Artists: Wilfredo Castano, John Carrillo, Eugenio Castro, Rene Castro, R. Crumb, A. del Valle, Lou DeMatteis, Felipe Ehrenberg, Ricardo Favela, Harry Gamboa, Rupert Garcia, Sal Garcia, Carmen Lomas Garza, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Louis ‘the Foot’ Gonzalez, Gronk, Nancy Hom, Eric Hayashi, Adan Hernandez, Esther Hernandez, Gonzalo Hidalgo, D. O’Keefe, Yolanda Lopez, Ralph Maradiaga, Magu, Jose Montoya, Moscoso, Michael Rios, Jos Sances, Herbert Sigenza, John Valadez, Patssi Valdez, Esteban Villa, Xavier Viramontes.

Biographical Note: René Yañez, Chicano artist, curator, and community activist, has worked as a champion of radical political art and the Chicano experience in San Francisco, CA from the late 1960s to the present day. One of the most prominent figures in the Mission School in the early 1970s, Yañez cofounded the Galería de la Raza (GDLR) in 1970 – to this day, GDLR is one of the principal showcases for Chicano and Latino politicized art. Yañez has frequently collaborated with other art organizations advocating for people of color, including more than a decade of work with the performance theatre group Culture Clash (founded at GDLR in 1984). 

Cynthia “Kiki” Wallis’s career has spanned some of the most important cultural and artistic movements in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past four decades. After an extensive tenure as the Assistant Director of the Asian American Theatre Company, in 1991 she began a creative partnership with noted Mission District artist René Yañez, producing readings, installations, and collaborative projects. Wallis’s work included photographic documentation of Yañez’s many exhibitions, as well as collaborative projects between Yañez and other noted Chicano artists, such as Guillermo Gomez-Peña.