Outdoor Installation: “OY/YO” by Deborah Kass

Now on View

Media inquiries: mediarelations@theweitzman.org 

Visit (the sculpture is located outside the Museum at the corner of 5th & Market)

The Weitzman displays Brooklyn-based artist Deborah Kass’ monumental “OY/YO” sculpture on its grounds, at 5th and Market Streets on Independence Mall. The bright yellow aluminum statue is creative wordplay using just two letters with several meanings. One side says “YO,” referencing the attention-getting phrase used throughout Philly, as well as “I” in Spanish, while the other side reads “OY,” a popular Yiddish phrase used in Jewish and American culture.

At 8-feet tall, 16-feet wide, and 5-feet deep, “OY” has become part of Old City’s cultural fabric and a destination for tourists and locals alike. Kass first created “OY” as a painting in 2011 and in 2015 turned it into a sculpture that sat in New York’s Brooklyn Bridge Park.

“I created OY/YO thinking about the American promise of equality and fairness and our responsibilities to make the country a better place for all,” says Kass. “With hate and division now on the rise, it is urgent to see our commonalities, what we share, and what brings us together.”

RELATED PROGRAM

OY/YO: CONVERSATION WITH DEBORAH KASS AND THOM COLLINS

Deborah Kass | OY/YO, 2015 | Painted Aluminum | © 2022 Deborah Kass / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York | Photograph by Robert Hakalski