He was a well-known contributor to the arts of San Francisco and is a co-founder of Galería de la Raza, a non-profit community focused gallery that features Latino and Chicano artists and their allies.
In the early 1970s, he was one of the first curators in the United States to introduce Mexico's Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) as a contemporary focus and an important cultural celebration.
[4][5] 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.
[8] In 1970, Yañez was a co-founder of Galería de la Raza in the Mission district of San Francisco, along with artists Rupert García, Peter Rodríguez, Francisco X. Camplis, Graciela Carrillo, Jerry Concha, Gustavo Ramos Rivera, Carlos Loarca, Manuel Villamor, Robert González, Luis Cervantes, Chuy Campusano, Rolando Castellón, and Ralph Maradiaga.
[14] 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.