René Yañez

Early life He was born with the name René Yañez-Cirlos on 19 September 1942 in Tijuana, Mexico, and he moved to San Diego, California, with his family in 1954. Yañez became a United States citizen in 1961. Some other students and activists he met in the same time period included the Mujeres Muralistas members: Graciela Carrillo, Consuelo Mendez, Irene Perez, and Yolanda M. Lopez, as well as Michael V. Ríos and Jerry Concha. They divorced a few years later, but Yolanda moved into the apartment next door and they maintained a professional relationship. Over time the altars have evolved to reflect the change in time and local community. MALAF helped organize, with support from Laney College and Merritt College, three small silkscreen workshops in Oakland community development centers and these workshops were an important part of the social serigraphy movement in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yañez become the Galería's first artistic director and served for over 15 years.

In 1972, Yañez brought Mexico's Day of the Dead to the Mission district with installations and followed by the art exhibitions "Room for the Dead" and "Labyrinth for the Dead" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Yañez was a member of the food-based art group The Great Tortilla Conspiracy, other members include Jos Sances, Rio Yañez, and Art Hazelwood. which is now housed at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry in Riverside, California. Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge toured for 5 years around the United States with 15 different exhibition locations. A book of the same title as the art exhibition was published in 2002 by Cheech Marin.

Eviction Yañez made national news in 2013 when he and his family, including his partner of many years, artist Cynthia "Kiki" Wallis, his son Rio and his ex-wife Yolanda M. Lopez were to be evicted in June 2014 from their rental in the Mission district. They held various art exhibitions, events and community rallies related to the theme of their eviction between 2013 – 2014 including an "eviction garage sale". They had lived in the building where they were being evicted since 1978 and their monthly rent was very affordable compared to the current market value, making it difficult to find a new rental within their limited budget.