Magic Grasshopper
Audio Guide
New Years Eve:
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°F
Broadway Plaza between 46th & 47th Sts
New York, NY
Start:
Oct 15, 2025
End:
Dec 2, 2025
24/7
View Public Programming
Broadway Plaza between 46th & 47th Sts
New York, NY
Start:
Oct 15, 2025
End:
Dec 2, 2025
24/7
View Public Programming
This fall, a new mode of transportation is arriving in Times Square. Featuring an opulent carriage drawn by carousel-style horses and loaded with 90’s nostalgia, artist Yvette Mayorga’s Magic Grasshopper is a 30-foot-long kinetic sculpture carrying critical narratives of migration, feminized labor, and colonial histories. Designed to metaphorically transport viewers across borders and historical eras, the pink-hued fantastical vessel is also a tribute to the physical and personal journeys undertaken in pursuit of the American Dream.
The sculpture is elaborately piped in Mayorga’s signature faux-frosting: thickened acrylic applied through pastry bags, which references the artist's familial labor of baking and the broader histories of women’s work and immigrant labor. The disarmingly sweet exterior and the color pink become a subversion, a sugary shield, and a portal to a hopeful future.
The carriage itself looks prepared for a journey, with suitcases stacked on the roof, horses sporting Hello Kitty backpacks, and a smiley-face flag fluttering optimistically above. Tricked-out wheels with gold rims spin slowly beneath the carriage — an homage to the lowrider culture rooted in Mexican-American communities of Chicago, where the artist’s family lives. Wrapped around the carriage are painterly scenes of migration, layering European art historical tropes with personal and collective narratives.
Mayorga has coined the word “Latinxoco” to describe her distinctive style — taking inspiration from both Latinx and Rococo aesthetics, and the shared decadence of colonial Mexico and American culture. The carriage featured in Magic Grasshopper references the royal carriage of the Second Mexican Empire, which was modeled after the opulent coronation coach of Louis XVI at the Palace of Versailles, and was used at the Castillo de Chapultepec in Mexico City — a castle built atop sacred Aztec land. The title, Magic Grasshopper, refers to the English translation of the Nahuatl word Chapultepec (“hill of the grasshopper”), and evokes a mythical vehicle able to transcend the constraints of space and time.
Sited in Times Square, a crossroads of transportation, tourism, and visual symbol of the City that connotes big dreams and new beginnings, Magic Grasshopper mirrors the district’s spectacle, scale, and sense of possibility, while transporting us into deeper conversations about identity, immigration, and belonging.
As part of the project, Mayorga will partner with ART FOR CHANGE—a hybrid platform that connects socially conscious collectors with in-demand contemporary artists—to debut a limited edition work. A portion of net proceeds from the edition will benefit a nonprofit organization of the artist’s choice.
Magic Grasshopper will be on view free and open to the public 24/7 on Broadway between 46th and 47th Streets from October 15–December 2, 2025. Further programming details will be announced at a later date.
Fabrication services for Magic Grasshopper are by Stronghold Arts and The Factory NYC.
This fall, a new mode of transportation is arriving in Times Square. Featuring an opulent carriage drawn by carousel-style horses and loaded with 90’s nostalgia, artist Yvette Mayorga’s Magic Grasshopper is a 30-foot-long kinetic sculpture carrying critical narratives of migration, feminized labor, and colonial histories. Designed to metaphorically transport viewers across borders and historical eras, the pink-hued fantastical vessel is also a tribute to the physical and personal journeys undertaken in pursuit of the American Dream.
The sculpture is elaborately piped in Mayorga’s signature faux-frosting: thickened acrylic applied through pastry bags, which references the artist's familial labor of baking and the broader histories of women’s work and immigrant labor. The disarmingly sweet exterior and the color pink become a subversion, a sugary shield, and a portal to a hopeful future.
The carriage itself looks prepared for a journey, with suitcases stacked on the roof, horses sporting Hello Kitty backpacks, and a smiley-face flag fluttering optimistically above. Tricked-out wheels with gold rims spin slowly beneath the carriage — an homage to the lowrider culture rooted in Mexican-American communities of Chicago, where the artist’s family lives. Wrapped around the carriage are painterly scenes of migration, layering European art historical tropes with personal and collective narratives.
Mayorga has coined the word “Latinxoco” to describe her distinctive style — taking inspiration from both Latinx and Rococo aesthetics, and the shared decadence of colonial Mexico and American culture. The carriage featured in Magic Grasshopper references the royal carriage of the Second Mexican Empire, which was modeled after the opulent coronation coach of Louis XVI at the Palace of Versailles, and was used at the Castillo de Chapultepec in Mexico City — a castle built atop sacred Aztec land. The title, Magic Grasshopper, refers to the English translation of the Nahuatl word Chapultepec (“hill of the grasshopper”), and evokes a mythical vehicle able to transcend the constraints of space and time.
Sited in Times Square, a crossroads of transportation, tourism, and visual symbol of the City that connotes big dreams and new beginnings, Magic Grasshopper mirrors the district’s spectacle, scale, and sense of possibility, while transporting us into deeper conversations about identity, immigration, and belonging.
As part of the project, Mayorga will partner with ART FOR CHANGE—a hybrid platform that connects socially conscious collectors with in-demand contemporary artists—to debut a limited edition work. A portion of net proceeds from the edition will benefit a nonprofit organization of the artist’s choice.
Magic Grasshopper will be on view free and open to the public 24/7 on Broadway between 46th and 47th Streets from October 15–December 2, 2025. Further programming details will be announced at a later date.
Fabrication services for Magic Grasshopper are by Stronghold Arts and The Factory NYC.
October 15, 5:30-6:30pm
Join Times Square Arts and Yvette Mayorga for the public unveiling of Magic Grasshopper on Wednesday, October 15 at 5:30pm in Times Square. Remarks begin promptly at 5:45pm followed by a musical performance by a special guest from Mayorga's hometown of Chicago. RSVP.
Support for this project is provided in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Broadway Plaza between 46th & 47th Sts
New York, NY
24/7
Photo by Marzena Abrahamik
Yvette Mayorga (b. 1991) is a Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist known for her Rococo-inspired reliefs that merge confectionary labor with found images to explore themes of belonging. Dominated by the color pink, Mayorga celebrates femme power while questioning the allure of consumer culture and the American Dream as a first-generation Latinx.
Mayorga holds a MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from the University of Illinois. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the Museum of Arts and Design, NY; Vincent Price Art Museum, CA; El Museo del Barrio, NY; The Center for Craft, NC; Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico; LACMA, CA; and solo exhibitions at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, CT (2024), The Momentary at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AR (2022), and her first institutional international solo museum exhibition, La Jaula de Oro, at Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Mexico (2024), which was reviewed by The New York Times.
Mayorga’s works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution’s Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.; The Davis Museum at Wellesley College, MA; The City of Chicago permanent public art collection at O'Hare International Airport, IL; Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, NH; 21c Museum Hotels, KY; Cerámica Suro, Mexico; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AR; DePaul Art Museum, IL; El Museo del Barrio, NY; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, IL; Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA; and New Mexico State University Art Museum, NM. She has been featured in Artforum, ARTnews, DAZED, Galerie, Hyperallergic, Teen Vogue, The Guardian, The New York Times, and W Magazine.
Learn More About
Yvette Mayorga
Yvette Mayorga (b. 1991) is a Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist known for her Rococo-inspired reliefs that merge confectionary labor with found images to explore themes of belonging. Dominated by the color pink, Mayorga celebrates femme power while questioning the allure of consumer culture and the American Dream as a first-generation Latinx.
Mayorga holds a MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from the University of Illinois. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the Museum of Arts and Design, NY; Vincent Price Art Museum, CA; El Museo del Barrio, NY; The Center for Craft, NC; Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico; LACMA, CA; and solo exhibitions at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, CT (2024), The Momentary at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AR (2022), and her first institutional international solo museum exhibition, La Jaula de Oro, at Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Mexico (2024), which was reviewed by The New York Times.
Mayorga’s works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution’s Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.; The Davis Museum at Wellesley College, MA; The City of Chicago permanent public art collection at O'Hare International Airport, IL; Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, NH; 21c Museum Hotels, KY; Cerámica Suro, Mexico; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AR; DePaul Art Museum, IL; El Museo del Barrio, NY; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, IL; Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA; and New Mexico State University Art Museum, NM. She has been featured in Artforum, ARTnews, DAZED, Galerie, Hyperallergic, Teen Vogue, The Guardian, The New York Times, and W Magazine.
Learn More About
Yvette Mayorga
Yvette Mayorga (b. 1991) is a Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist known for her Rococo-inspired reliefs that merge confectionary labor with found images to explore themes of belonging. Dominated by the color pink, Mayorga celebrates femme power while questioning the allure of consumer culture and the American Dream as a first-generation Latinx.
Mayorga holds a MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from the University of Illinois. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the Museum of Arts and Design, NY; Vincent Price Art Museum, CA; El Museo del Barrio, NY; The Center for Craft, NC; Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico; LACMA, CA; and solo exhibitions at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, CT (2024), The Momentary at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AR (2022), and her first institutional international solo museum exhibition, La Jaula de Oro, at Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Mexico (2024), which was reviewed by The New York Times.
Mayorga’s works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution’s Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.; The Davis Museum at Wellesley College, MA; The City of Chicago permanent public art collection at O'Hare International Airport, IL; Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, NH; 21c Museum Hotels, KY; Cerámica Suro, Mexico; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AR; DePaul Art Museum, IL; El Museo del Barrio, NY; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, IL; Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA; and New Mexico State University Art Museum, NM. She has been featured in Artforum, ARTnews, DAZED, Galerie, Hyperallergic, Teen Vogue, The Guardian, The New York Times, and W Magazine.
Learn More About
Yvette Mayorga
