arts & culture
‘OY/YO’ Artist to Speak at the Weitzman
I SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
22 The “OY/YO” sculpture was fi rst installed outside the Weitzman on May 2.

Brooklyn Bridge Park. Since then, it’s
lived in many cities. It will remain in
Philadelphia until next May.

During its time in the City of Brotherly
Love, the piece has taken on additional
meanings, most famously in its tribute
to Rocky’s “Yo, Adrian!” line from the
eponymous Philly-based fi lm.

But “OY/YO”’s placement outside of
the Weitzman has established the statue
as a “conduit” between Independence
Mall’s breadth of American history
and the Weitzman’s scope of American
Jewish history, Collins said.

“It’s absolutely powerful that this piece
be front and center in that interface
between what could be construed as a cen-
tral element of American history broadly
and Jewish American history,” he said.

Kass fi nds the location of her piece
outside of a Jewish institution even more
powerful due to rising antisemitism in
the U.S. She cites the 2018 Pittsburgh
Tree of Life synagogue shooting and
Republican gubernatorial candidate
Doug Mastriano’s association with
antisemitic politicians and appropriation
of Jewish symbols as evidence of growing
hatred against Jews.

“As the culture changes, the relevance
of this just keeps not only changing, but
being added to — it’s an additive process,”
Kass said. “Doug Mastriano wasn’t run-
ning when I made that piece; antisemitism
wasn’t in the news. So, over the course of
years, it has unfortunately been increas-
ing, been more and more in the news.”
Beyond being a physical portal
between Independence Mall and the
Weitzman and a symbolic portal into
American Jewish history, the sculpture
OCTOBER 20, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
serves as a portal of access to those not
well-versed in Kass’ works or in what
“OY/YO” represents.

A growing selfi e destination, “OY/YO”
has become an opportunity to shine light
on the Weitzman and begin a simple
conversation around the meanings of
words that can spark more meaningful
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Courtesy of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History
t’s easy to spot the Weitzman National
Museum of American Jewish History
these days. For the past six months,
it’s been home to the eight-by-16-foot
Lamborghini yellow “OY/YO” sculpture
that sits outside its doors.

Th e sculpture has become a selfi e des-
tination and makeshift playground for
young museumgoers, transcending its
original purpose of exploring the mul-
titudinous meanings of just two letters.

Deborah Kass, the artist behind “OY/
YO,” is well aware of the sculpture’s
changing meaning in its temporary
Philadelphia home. On Oct. 27 at 8 p.m.

at the Weitzman, she’ll discuss “OY/YO”’s
evolution and the role of art in the growing
landscape of antisemitism with Neubauer
Family Executive Director and President
of Th e Barnes Foundation Th om Collins.

“Th e sculpture truly speaks to the
diversity that is Philadelphia,” said
Weitzman Chief Curator & Director
of Exhibitions and Interpretation Josh
Perelman. “Th e word ‘oy’ and the word
‘yo’ mean so many diff erent things in
diff erent cultural contexts. While it
announces in a very wonderful way
the presence of a Jewish institution on
Independence Mall, its fl exibility and
mutability — and to diff erent languages
in diff erent contexts — embraces the full
spectrum of Black, brown, immigrant
people from every place in the world who
have made Philadelphia their home.”
First created as a painting in 2011,
“OY/YO” was inspired by Ed Ruscha’s
1962 painting “OOF” and drew infl uence
from Robert Indiana’s “LOVE,” which
has become iconic in Philadelphia. Kass,
known for her works that combine art
history and pop culture with commentary
on feminism, gender and sexuality, racism
and identity, wanted to explore the numer-
ous meanings behind the two words.

Based in Brooklyn, New York, the
Jewish artist designed “OY/YO” to be an
homage to the informal greeting and a nod
to the word “I” or “me” in Spanish and the
Yiddish phrase to express exasperation.

“Th e fact that two letters can mean so
many diff erent things to so many commu-
nities is really the joy of the piece,” Kass
said. “And you can’t say ‘joy’ without ‘oy’.”
“OY/YO” was transformed from two
to three dimensions in 2015 when the
monumental sculpture was installed at
dialogue around identity.

“Susan Sontag argued that one of the
reasons people take photographs on
vacation is that they take photographs
so that they don’t have to actually expe-
rience anything. Th ey use it to distance
themselves. I think the selfi e is diff erent,
and I think in this case, it is quite the
opposite,” Collins said. “I think they’re
identifying themselves with some aspect
of it: their interpretation of the piece.”
As an artist who made a name for
herself in part because of her mimicry
and appropriation of other artists such as
Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollack, Kass
is familiar with the concept of reinter-
preting artwork. She knows it’s an inevi-
table part of her work to have an audience
fi nd meaning in her art.

“It’s not in your control,” she said. “Th e
audience is, in fact, part of the meaning
of the work.”
For more information about the event,
visit theweitzman.org/events/oyyo-event. JE



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