Skins, since 2018

Each work in Iván Argote’s Skins series is composed of several painted concrete slabs. Letters and fragments of words are inscribed on the various panels. The sculpture’s shape suggests it has been torn from a larger architectural structure, evoking the idea of a ruin or a remnant.

The Skins series stems from Iván Argote’s long-term research into the history of ideologies, the notion of the monument, and their impact on the formation of subjectivities. By creating concrete ruins from imaginary architectures, he proposes an alternative history to those promoted by dominant national narratives and official sites of memory.

The fragmentation of words and text on Skins resembles an iconoclastic gesture directed at political slogans, which have at times been used to stir anger and resentment. Through this eclectic assemblage of colorful panels and words—initially difficult to decipher—the artist invites viewers to embrace new forms of communication that convey a more sensitive and inclusive politics.