Paris-based duo Xolo Cuintle has been named to the Artsy Vanguard 2027, Artsy's annual list of ten emerging artists, the platform announced on 11 November. Romy Texier and Valentin Vie Binet, who have worked together since 2020, make sculptures from concrete worked by hand like clay, producing deserted scenes that look at once petrified and alive.

The pair take their name from the xoloitzcuintle, the hairless dog of Aztec mythology that guides souls between life and death — a fitting emblem for work that sits between furniture, sculpture and stage set. Dogs recur throughout their practice as companions, guardians and guides, often shown lying face to face in postures of rest and shared vulnerability.

The duo trained at the Duperré School in Paris and spent a year in residence at the Manufacture des Gobelins before setting up a studio in Aubervilliers. They are represented by DS Galerie in Paris, where they held a solo show in October 2026, and were named 2026 "Oui Design!" laureates by Villa Albertine. Their work has entered the collections of KADIST, the CNAP and, this year, FRAC Île-de-France.

They are currently showing "O Horizon" at Mécènes du Sud in Montpellier, on view through 19 December. Developed with botanists, entomologists and gardeners from the University of Montpellier, the exhibition's concrete sculptures — including First Knot (2026), made from concrete, polystyrene, polypropylene and stainless steel — trace the invisible relationships linking plant, animal and microbial life. The Vanguard, now in its ninth year, profiles ten artists the platform considers the most promising working today.