'Charging Bull' sculptor says New York's 'Fearless Girl' statue violates his rights

[Billy Jingo]

'Charging Bull' sculptor says New York's 'Fearless Girl' statue violates his rights



The sculptor of Wall Street’s “Charging Bull” statue is accusing New York City of violating his legal rights by allowing the “Fearless Girl” statue to be installed facing the bronze beast, without his permission.

The Italian-born sculptor Arturo Di Modica said the presence of the girl infringed on his own artistic copyright by changing the creative dynamic to include the other bold presence.

Attorney Norman Siegel said Di Modica would explain at a news conference on Wednesday exactly how he’s challenging city officials who issued a permit for the bronze girl to stay until February 2018. Siegel said he was demanding the city release documents showing what procedures were followed.

Artist Kristen Visbal’s figure was first placed on a traffic island near Wall Street on 7 March, on the eve of international women’s day, to make a point: there is a dearth of women on the boards of the largest US corporations.

The young girl staring down the huge bull with hands planted on her hips quickly became a tourist magnet, drawing global attention on social media as visitors posed for pictures. In response to petitions with tens of thousands of signatures for the statue to stay longer, mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city permit would be extended for nearly one year.

[scott]

Eh, it's public art. He has a valid grievance but there are no "rights" being infringed here.

[Billy Jingo]

I was talking with some art nerds this past weekend and they claim the sculpture does not work on its own and requires the Charging Bull.

I disagreed.

[Norm dePlume]

That poor bull has chick problems.

[Gingersnap]

What's ironic is that women control most wealth in this country. Men die and leave excellent legacies to surviving wives who typically live longer. It's women who hold shares (even if they don't realize it), women who benefit from life insurance, women who relentlessly feed 401k accounts and object to cashing them partially out for....stuff.

Women control the money after 50 years of age.

Delicious irony.

[Lady Marva]

What's ironic is that women control most wealth in this country. Men die and leave excellent legacies to surviving wives who typically live longer. It's women who hold shares (even if they don't realize it), women who benefit from life insurance, women who relentlessly feed 401k accounts and object to cashing them partially out for....stuff.

Women control the money after 50 years of age.

Delicious irony.

IF they've married a rich enough guy.....................

[Frostbit]

IF they've married a rich enough guy.....................

Or if they worked in partnership with the "guy" during to the marriage to both work, be frugal, adhere to disciplined investing, and then outlive "the guy".

[Adam]

*snicker*

Pissed off artist adds statue of urinating dog next to ‘Fearless Girl’

Gee whiz, artists are so sensitive!

City sculptor Alex Gardega — seething over the Fearless Girl statue being placed across from Wall Street’s Charging Bull — has decided to retaliate with a work of his own.

Gardega created a statue of a small dog, titled Pissing Pug, and his sloppily crafted pooch takes direct aim at Fearless Girl — or, at least, at her left leg.

“This is corporate nonsense,” Gardega told The Post of Fearless Girl, saying it was put opposite artist Arturo Di Modica’s famed bull as a publicity stunt by a Boston-based financial firm.

“It has nothing to do with feminism, and it is disrespect to the artist that made the bull,” he said. “That bull had integrity.”

The Upper West Side artist sniffed that he even made his dog particularly poorly just to stick it to Fearless Girl even more.

“I decided to build this dog and make it crappy to downgrade the statue, exactly how the girl is a downgrade on the bull,” said Gardega, who has never met the other statues’ creators.

But many female passers-by Monday said Fearless Girl has come to represent women taking on Wall Street — and just about anybody else standing up to financial firms — and said Gardega’s peeing dog is misogynistic.

“That’s an a–hole move. You call this art?” said one woman who kicked the dog statue as she walked by.

But Gardega insisted that he is “pro-feminism” and has “nothing against the sculptor whatsoever.”

If it's fair to put one sculpture there, it's completely fair to put another one there.


Live by the art, die by the art.

[Djharkavy]

*snicker*


If it's fair to put one sculpture there, it's completely fair to put another one there.


Live by the art, die by the art.

What's next?

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[Adam]

What's next?

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

I dunno. I guess someone could sculpt a flea to put on the dog or something.

[Djharkavy]

I dunno. I guess someone could sculpt a flea to put on the dog or something.

Too subtle.

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[Newman]

Eh, it's public art. He has a valid grievance but there are no "rights" being infringed here.

Only if the commission included the right to be the sole occupant of the platform, the raised, bricked area that now has the girl sculpture on it. I'm sure lawyers are arguing both sides.

Meanwhile, I too think his grievance is valid. The additional statue subverts the original. It reminds me of the "cultural appropriation" squabble.

[Norm dePlume]

I don't understand how these things get installed there and how they stay there. I mean, the bull is heavy and stable enough to just be set on the ground and it's not gonna move. But the girl looks like she'd fall over if a pedestrian brushed against her. She must be anchored into the ground somehow. The dog looks small enough that someone could just carry it off if it isn't anchored. And if these things are anchored down, then they can hardly be just stealth installed overnight. This is Wall Street, not some hippie commune. Somebody must control that bit of space. I think if I showed up with a statue and no permission and started pulling up bricks to install my statue, I would expect to be arrested before I could finish the job.

[Michele]

Got tired of the years of it's-a-man's-world. Getting the same fatigue with I-am-woman-hear-me-roar. There is a decent middle ground and a way to be appreciative of both.

[Newman]

I don't understand how these things get installed there and how they stay there. I mean, the bull is heavy and stable enough to just be set on the ground and it's not gonna move. But the girl looks like she'd fall over if a pedestrian brushed against her. She must be anchored into the ground somehow. The dog looks small enough that someone could just carry it off if it isn't anchored. And if these things are anchored down, then they can hardly be just stealth installed overnight. This is Wall Street, not some hippie commune. Somebody must control that bit of space. I think if I showed up with a statue and no permission and started pulling up bricks to install my statue, I would expect to be arrested before I could finish the job.

You'd think.

I vaguely recall some years ago an odd "stunt" in which people dressed the part, somehow got the equipment, and simply went to a busy intersection and tore up the pavement in the middle of the street. I think at some point they may have had police helping direct traffic.

I don't remember much more than that, but the key ingredients are self-assuredness (chutzpah) and costumes (including the proper equipment).

A library close where I used to live got a substantial bronze statue of a girl reading a book for its outside entrance way. Sure enough it was stolen shortly, presumably melted down. Heavy equiment had been used, so you can bet it wasn't a cat burglary.