Ricky Yanas
Adjunct
Ricky Yanas is a Texas-born artist, educator and curator living in Philadelphia. Working within a pragmatic tradition of problem finding, his work extends through a variety of disciplines (photography, documentary film, installation and archival investigation) with the aim to create intersectional/interhistorical spaces of inquiry, mutual engagement and collaboration through collective art making and ideological exploration.
Yanas' projects include Extension or Communication: Puerto Rico at Tiger Strikes Asteroid Gallery, Philadelphia and Taller Puertorriqueno, and The Green Sun, a collaboration with artist Kristen Neville-Taylor that brings together practitioners from environmental and creative sectors to re-envision the role of energy in our lives, past, present and future. Most recently, he co-curated An Exchange of Shifting Atmospheres with Leslie Moody Castro at Tiger Strikes Asteroid. The exhibition centered on the artistic collaborations between five artist pairs working in Philadelphia and Mexico City. Developed since the beginning of the pandemic, the final works offered a glimpse into subtle and latent themes shared across the borders of city and country during that unprecedented time. The second portion of this exhibition was on view at LaNao Gallery in Mexico City through July of 2023.
In 2016, Yanas founded Ulises Books with Nerissa Cooney, Lauren Downing, Joel Evey, Kayla Romberger and Gee Wesley. Ulises will open its new storefront location at the Ray Building on North American Street in early 2024.
