Editor’s Note: This article was initially printed by The Art Newspaper, an editorial accomplice of NCS Style.
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New Yorkers might not all agree on which city critter is the extra becoming image for his or her metropolis — the resilient rat, the nuke-proof cockroach or the scrappy pigeon — however the latter might quickly have an edge within the type of a 16ft-tall monument perched atop the High Line elevated park on town’s west aspect. The subsequent fee to alight above Tenth Avenue on the park’s distinguished plinth will likely be Dinosaur (2024), a hyper-realist aluminum sculpture of a pigeon by Iván Argote, the Bogotá-born, Paris-based artist.
“The name Dinosaur makes reference to the sculpture’s scale and to the pigeon’s ancestors who millions of years ago dominated the globe, as we humans do today,” Argote mentioned in an announcement. “The name also serves as reference to the dinosaur’s extinction. Like them, one day we won’t be around anymore, but perhaps a remnant of humanity will live on — as pigeons do — in the dark corners and gaps of future worlds. I feel this sculpture could generate an uncanny feeling of attraction, seduction and fear among the inhabitants of New York.”
Like many New Yorkers, pigeons should not native to the area. They are believed to have been introduced to town within the seventeenth century by European settlers. And, like generations of MBA graduates who moved to town for jobs on Wall Street, pigeons are thriving of their adopted environment and now throng the sidewalks of their shiny fits. The metropolis’s pigeon inhabitants is estimated to be bigger than its human inhabitants, with round 9 million birds in contrast to the practically eight million folks residing within the metropolis.
“Iván has a charming ability as an artist to take something familiar and make us consider it anew in profound ways,” Cecilia Alemani, the director and chief curator of High Line Art, mentioned in an announcement. “His sculpture for the High Line Plinth adds a critical yet funny perspective to the ongoing dialogue of public art.”
Critiques of standard monuments and public artwork — and a passion for pigeons — recur all through Argote’s work, which has included documenting the elimination of a statue of French colonial administrator Joseph Gallieni from a public plaza in Paris to planters made to resemble historic monuments. When he was nominated for France’s prime modern artwork prize, the Prix Marcel Duchamp, in 2022, Argote’s installation on the Centre Pompidou featured movies of monuments being eliminated and disassembled, projected in a gallery strewn with seemingly toppled obelisks.
Argote’s distinguished pigeon would be the fourth High Line Plinth fee, following works by Pamela Rosenkranz, Simone Leigh and Sam Durant. Rosenkranz’s sculpture of a neon-pink tree, Old Tree (2023), will stay on view till September. Argote’s Dinosaur will likely be unveiled the next month and stay on view for 18 months.
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