Iván Argote made waves in New York final fall when his 16-foot pigeon made a house for itself on the Excessive Line in Downtown Manhattan. Now, the Colombian artist and filmmaker is again, simply in time for Frieze Week, with a brand new particular solo exhibition at Perrotin.
Spanning almost 20 years of follow, Breathings arrives on the heels of three main worldwide initiatives: Descanso, a central outside set up on the 2024 Venice Biennale; Dinosaur, his Excessive Line Plinth fee (2024–2026); and Air de Jeu, a part of the Prix Marcel Duchamp exhibition on the Centre Pompidou (2022–2023). Using a deeply reflective lens on energy and historical past, these works place Argote as some of the resonant voices interrogating the position of monuments in each preserving and difficult dominant narratives.
The exhibition unfolds in two gestures; the primary, a playful critique. The artist dismantles and reimagines monuments with wit and creativeness, inviting viewers to query the tales we’ve inherited via structure and public area. The second gesture is gentler, providing a young counterbalance. By text-based silk work and different poetic works, Argote creates area for empathy, intimacy and hope — a name to melt the laborious surfaces of historical past.
Whereas the present takes its title from a collection of six delicate silk work, the exhibition as an entire is a meditation on the lengthy arc of Argote’s profession. In a world overwhelmed by noise and spectacle, Breathings asks us to pause, hear and picture a gentler method ahead.
The exhibition is now on view in New York till Could 31.
Perrotin New York
130 Orchard Road
New York, NY, 10002
