Meet the artist behind the massive pigeon sculpture going up in NYC

Artist Iván Argote understands that pigeons ruffle many people’s feathers. But he’s hoping to change how the public views the bird, often referred to as a rat with wings, by putting a massive one on a pedestal in New York City. 

A nearly five-metre-tall, hand-painted aluminum pigeon sculpture will be installed on Manhattan’s High Line in October, over the intersection of 10th Avenue and 30th Street.

The High Line, a non-profit organization and public park, said in a press release it will be “posed on a concrete plinth that resembles the sidewalks and buildings that New York’s pigeons call home” and remain there for 18 months. 

“Why do you hate pigeons or why do you like them? I think there is a good point where … you can start a new question or a new conversation out of it,” Argote told As It Happens guest host Stephanie Skenderis.

Argote was born in Bogota, Colombia but now lives in Paris after moving there for art school over a decade ago. During his first year in the French capital he did performances in public spaces. 

“I spent most of my time outside … kind of trying to think on how to fit into this new society and ask these questions through my work,” he said. “Somehow, I felt identified with pigeons because we were kind of in the same sidewalks. We were kind of also anonymous. I was alone in the city … I started actually doing some videos with street pigeons.” 

Since then, his artistic relationship with pigeons has evolved — culminating in this gigantic sculpture, which he named Dinosaur.

Argote has been working on the sculpture’s construction with a team of collaborators. He remembers the first time he saw it in its full-size glory at a foundry in Mexico City, where it still currently resides. “I really felt like I was a pigeon,” he said.

The sculpture is not complete yet, but when New Yorkers are able to visit it later this year, he hopes it gets viewers thinking about why some figures and creatures are routinely honoured with statues, while others are not. 

“Most of our monuments are related to wars … [and] are mostly men, military men, who won wars or dominated territories,” he said. “This is like a counter monument, or an anti-monument in a way, that celebrates an ordinary or anonymous street pigeon.”

He also hopes it gets viewers thinking about our relationship with nature, animals and extinction, part of the reason he named it Dinosaur — which is also a nod to the sculpture’s scale and the pigeon’s ancestor.

Argote’s sculpture is the fourth commission for The High Line’s ongoing Plinth public art program.

“During the public commenting period of the Plinth selection process, Argote’s proposal proved polarizing, receiving a great number of responses, with many New Yorkers remarking on their strong feelings of affection for or disgust of the iconic and ubiquitous urban wildlife,” the group said in a statement.

“Iván Argote’s Dinosaur will add great wit to the skyline of New York,” said Cecilia Alemani, the director and chief curator of High Line Art.

“Iván has a charming ability as an artist to take something familiar and make us consider it anew in profound ways. His sculpture for the High Line Plinth adds a critical yet funny perspective to the ongoing dialogue of public art.”