All Photos By Gail

Because the artwork changes only once every eighteen months or so, I never feel too lazy when it takes me six months to visit the latest monumental piece of public art exhibited on the High Line Plinth. I mean, it’s not going anywhere any time soon. The fourth High Line Plinth commission (I skipped covering the second one because it was so crappy), is by Colombian-born artist  Iván Argote and it’s called Dinosaur (2024). Let’s take a closer look!

Dinosaur is a colossal, hyper-realistic sculpture of  Pigeon cast in aluminum, and it is pretty rad. The meticulously hand-painted, humorous sculpture challenges the grandeur of traditional monuments celebrating significant historical figures, instead choosing to canonize the familiar New York City street bird.

Posed on a concrete plinth that resembles the sidewalks and buildings that New York’s pigeons call home, Dinosaur reverses the typical power dynamic between bird and human, towering 21 feet above the Spur (slightly taller than the rumored average height of a Tyrannosaurus Rex) over the countless pedestrians and car drivers that travel down 10th Avenue.

Reflecting on the work’s title, Argote notes, “The name Dinosaur references the sculpture’s scale and the pigeon’s ancestors, who millions of years ago dominated the globe, as we humans do today. The name also serves as a 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.”

Dinosaur, like the pigeons that inspired it, bears witness to the city’s evolution and confronts us with our ever-changing relationship with the natural world and its inhabitants. The oft-overlooked and derided creatures that seem to over-populate the city first arrived in the US via Europe, likely in the 1800s. They were kept as domesticated animals and were most notably used as reliable message carriers.

Pigeons have an internal GPS, known as “homing,” that allows them to always find their way back home. This skill once made the bird indispensable in war — they served as military messengers in both World War I and World War II, saving hundreds of soldiers’ lives by transporting messages quickly to both the trenches and front lines. Many of these pigeons received gallantry awards and were celebrated as war heroes, before technology eventually rendered them obsolete.

Pigeon Graffiti By Paul Richard Spotted on 23rd Street at the High Line Exit, North Side

Dinosaur recognizes this seemingly prosaic figure and celebrates its anonymity amongst the urban landscape, while also taking aim at classic monuments erected in honor of great men, who all too often are neither honorable nor great. Argote humorously suggests that, in fact, the not-wild — but no longer domesticated — birds are likely more deserving of being placed on a pedestal and celebrated for their contributions to society than most. Further, by highlighting their origins, the artist reminds viewers that, to some degree, everyone is an immigrant. Even the pigeon, a New York fixture, initially migrated here and made the city their home, like millions of other “native” New Yorkers.

Dinosaur Seen from Street Level on 30th Street Looking West

Dinosaur will Be on View on the High Line Plinth (at the Spur), 30th St. and 10th Avenue Through Spring  2026.