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Add Texture to GoogleIván Argote’s current work now spans the dizzying heights of Manhattan and the rolling landscapes of Piedmont. While his monumental sculpture *Dinosaur*—a hyperrealistic pigeon nearly five meters tall—has dominated the intersection of 10th Avenue and 30th Street in New York since October 2024, the Colombian artist is preparing to establish a lasting presence for his work in Europe. At forty-one, the artist—who was the youngest creator and the first artist from the Global South to win the prestigious High Line Plinth commission—is cementing his influence on the international scene with a major installation in Italy, coupled with a highly anticipated solo exhibition in London.
Piazza del Chafleo: An Ode to the Imaginary Word
It is in the province of Cuneo, within the millennium-old town of Bene Vagienna, that Iván Argote will unveil his new site-specific work on October 11, 2026: the Piazza del Chafleo. This project, which took nearly a decade of reflection to develop, is not limited to the erection of a monument; it involves a complete redevelopment of a public space located at the entrance to the town. The chosen site—a roundabout and a green space historically nicknamed the “path of sighs” by locals—becomes the setting for an artistic proposal that blends semantics and urban planning.
At the heart of this project lies a verb coined by the artist: “chaflear.” By deliberately leaving the meaning of this word open-ended, Argote invites residents and visitors to define the place’s use and function for themselves. The physical structure of the square is organized around three modules made of cement tinted a delicate pink. The main element—a monolith incorporating a staircase—was designed as an observatory offering an unobstructed view of the Monviso massif and the Langhe hills. Flanking it, a wishing fountain and circular plaques embedded in the ground bearing various inscriptions are intended to encourage public interaction.
In direct echo of his New York installation, an oversized golden pigeon sculpture crowns the ensemble. For the artist, this bird—often scorned in urban settings—symbolizes resilience and a form of folk history. Here, the “piccione dorato” engages with the city’s Roman past—once known as Augusta Bagiennorum—while integrating with the town’s contemporary water projects.
The Radis Program: Contemporary Art as a Root
The installation in Piazza del Chafleo is part of the third edition of Radis, a quadrennial public art initiative whose name means “root” in the Piedmontese dialect. Under the artistic direction of curator Marta Papini, this program aims to establish permanent works in the rural areas of Piedmont, following in the footsteps of previous collaborations with Giulia Cenci and Petrit Halilaj.
The work’s permanence is ensured by a specific legal arrangement: the sculpture and its accompanying installations remain the property of the Fondazione Arte CRT—the contemporary art branch of the banking foundation chaired by Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo—while being made available to the municipality of Bene Vagienna through a permanent loan for use. This partnership between the Fondazione Arte CRT, the Fondazione CRC, and the city government led by Claudio Ambrogio underscores a commitment to decentralizing high-caliber cultural offerings to municipalities with a strong historical identity.
In conjunction with the square’s inauguration, the Palazzo Lucerna di Rorà will host a group exhibition titled *La mano sinistra del buio*, whose title is inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1969 science fiction masterpiece. This museum component will present a selection of works from the Arte CRT and CRC collections, including pieces by Francesco Cavaliere, Patricia Domínguez, Regina de Miguel, Aleksandra Mir, Isadora Neves Marques, and Diego Perrone, thereby creating a bridge between Argote’s new installation and current reflections on landscape and memory.
From New York to Mayfair: The Rise of the Perrotin Gallery
While Piedmont is embracing the verb “chaflear,” London is preparing to host the artist’s first solo exhibition in the British capital. From October 6 to October 19, 2026, the Perrotin Gallery will present *Mamarrachos: Quinceañera* at its prestigious Mayfair location, situated at Claridge’s, Brook’s Mews.
This exhibition marks a significant milestone in the career of Iván Argote, who has been collaborating with the Perrotin Gallery since 2009. It will be his ninth solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition’s title, evoking the traditional “quinceañera” celebration, seems to echo the maturity of a career launched nearly two decades ago and which today resonates particularly strongly in the world’s major cities.
Argote’s aesthetic—often characterized by his ability to subvert symbols of power and authority through humor and tenderness—finds an unexpected ambassador in the pigeon. In New York, her hand-painted aluminum “Dinosaur,” weighing nearly a metric ton, will remain on display on the High Line until spring 2026. This monumental work has transformed perceptions of this urban bird, placing it on a pedestal usually reserved for historical figures—a theme Argote continues to explore through his European installations.
Between the solemnity of the Italian countryside and the vibrancy of the Mayfair neighborhood, Iván Argote presents a body of work that questions our relationship to public space and monuments. Whether celebrating a street bird or inventing a verb to inhabit a square, the Bogotá-born artist continues to shift the boundaries of the contemporary cultural landscape, inviting the public to a poetic and political reappropriation of everyday life.