Announcing New Board Members

Clockwise from top left corner: Julio César Morales, Việt Lê, Sacha Yanow, Demian DinéYazhi´

For Immediate Release:

February 20, 2020 – Art Matters is pleased to announce the election of four new members to its board of directors: Demian DinéYazhi', artist and Art Matters grantee; Việt Lê, artist, Art Matters grantee and Associate Professor in Visual Studies at California College of the Arts; Julio César Morales, artist, educator, and curator at ASU Art Museum; and Sacha Yanow, performance artist, actor, Art Matters grantee and former Director of Art Matters. These individuals join an intergenerational group of dedicated artists, curators, educators, and other arts workers, a core of whom helped found the organization in 1985. In addition to their governance of the Foundation, the board reviews applications along with guest panelists for the annual no-strings-attached fellowships.

Director of Art Matters Abbey Williams reflects, “Because our board is a part of our grant review process, their understanding of artists' process and practice has always been integral. We are thrilled to welcome these artists into the leadership and family of Art Matters, as their range of perspectives will enhance our work and further our mission.”

Art Matters assists artists who make work intending to break ground aesthetically and socially.

Demian DinéYazhi´ (Portland, OR) is an Indigenous Diné transdisciplinary artist born to the clans Naasht’ézhí Tábąąhá (Zuni Clan Water’s Edge) and Tódích’íí’nii (Bitter Water). Growing up in the colonized border town of Gallup, New Mexico, the evolution of DinéYazhi´’s work has been influenced by their ancestral ties to traditional Diné culture, ceremony, matrilineal upbringing, the sacredness of land, and the importance of intergenerational knowledge. Through research, mining community archives, and social collaboration, DinéYazhi´ highlights the intersections of Radical Indigenous Queer Feminist identity and political ideology while challenging the white noise of contemporary art. They have recently exhibited at Honolulu Biennial (2019), Whitney Museum of American Art (2018), Henry Art Gallery (2018), Pioneer Works (2018), CANADA, NY (2017); and Cooley Art Gallery (2017). DinéYazhi´ is the founder of the Indigenous artist/activist initiative, R.I.S.E.: Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment. They are the recipient of the Henry Art Museum’s Brink Award (2017), Hallie Ford Fellow in the Visual Arts (2018), and Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellow (2019).

Việt Lê (San Francisco, CA/Sài Gòn) is an artist, writer, and curator. Lê is an Associate Professor in Visual Studies at California College of the Arts. Recent solo exhibitions include Sonic Spiritualities (Vargas Museum, University of the Philippines Diliman '20), lovebang! (Kellogg University Art Gallery, LA '16), vestige (H Gallery Bangkok ’15). He co-curated transPOP: Korea Việt Nam Remix (with Yong Soon Min; Seoul, Sài Gòn, Irvine, San Francisco), the 2012 Taipei Kuandu Biennale and Love in the Time of War (UC Santa Barbara, SF Camerawork). His work has been published in He has been published in positions, Art Journal, Crab Orchard Review, American Quarterly, Amerasia Journal, and the anthologies Queer Horizons, Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art, among others. Lê received his M.F.A. from the University of California, Irvine, and Ph.D. from the University of Southern California.

Julio César Morales (Tempe, AZ) Employing a range of media and visual strategies, artist, educator, and curator He is the founder and co-curator for Queens Nails Annex/Projects (2002-2012), an artist-run project space in San Francisco. He was adjunct professor at The San Francisco Art Institute (2000-2012) and associate professor in Curatorial Studies at The California College for the Arts (2001-2011). Morales is an advisor and writer for The San Francisco Quarterly Art Magazine, from 2008 to 2012 he was adjunct curator for visual arts at Yerba Buena Center for The Arts in San Francisco, Morales was a contributing curator for the Japanese pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale and is currently curator of visual arts at Arizona State University Art Museum. Morales’ artwork has been shown at Lyon Biennale; (Lyon, France), Istanbul Biennale; (Turkey), Los Angeles County Art Museum (Los Angeles); Singapore Biennale; (Singapore), Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt, Germany) and at Prospect 3 Biennale (New Orleans). His work has been written about in Flash Art, The New York Times, Artforum, Frieze, Art Nexus, and Art in America.

Sacha Yanow (Brooklyn, NY) is a performance artist and actor. Her work has been presented by venues including Danspace Project, Joe's Pub, and the New Museum in NYC; PICA’s TBA Festival/Cooley Gallery in Portland; and Festival Theaterformen in Hanover, Germany. She has received residency support from Baryshnikov Arts Center, Center for Performance Research, Denniston Hill, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, SOMA Mexico City, and Yaddo. As a creative advisor for fellow artists, Yanow has recently worked with Faye Driscoll, Morgan Bassichis, Elisabeth Subrin and Dynasty Handbag and is a member of the Dyke Division of Theater of the Two-Headed Calf. Yanow served as Director of Art Matters Foundation for 12 years, and previously worked at The Kitchen as Director of Operations. She received a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and is a graduate of the William Esper Studio Actor Training Program.

Click here to see the full list of the Art Matters Board of Directors.

https://www.artforum.com/news/art-matters-welcomes-four-new-board-members-82231