Make her ‘Gone Girl’
Bull sculptor: It’s more ad than art
THE CREATOR of Wall Street’s iconic bronze bull says the neighboring “Fearless Girl” statue is more ad campaign than artwork — and needs to find a new home.
Artist Arturo Di Modica, creator of the “Charging Bull,” called Wednesday for the removal of the Kristen Visbal work and cash from the city for damages over the statue’s Financial District installation on March 7.
The 4-foot-tall statue inspired by a 7-year-old girl is bad for his bovine image, Di Modica charges.“It’s negative,” De Modica said of popular Bowling Green newcomer. “The girl is right in front of the bull, like ‘Now I am here. What are you going to do?’”
The statue — standing just a few feet north of the bull — debuted to immediate acclaim and attention. It was the work of Visbal with the backing of State Street Global Advisors.
Di Modica and his attorney, ex-New York Civil Liberties Union director Norman Siegel, said the statue of the ponytailed girl in high-top sneakers was a promotional gimmick by the $2.5 trillion investment management company.
“The fearless girl was created for commercial purposes: To advertise SSGA and its SHE fund,” Siegel wrote in a letter to Mayor de Blasio.
The statue’s placement opposite Di Modica’s work was “a deliberate choice . . . made to exploit and appropriate the Charging Bull through the placement of Fearless Girl,” Siegel added.
The mayor was hardly swayed by the letter or Di Modica’s threat of legal action.
“Men who don’t like women taking up space are exactly why we need the Fearless Girl,” he tweeted.
Originally due to stay in place for one month, city officials approved a one-year residency as some advocated for the Fearless Girl to become a permanent installation.
But Siegel, in his letter to de Blasio, urged Hizzoner to take the bull by the horns and remove the girl’s statute for good.
“We believe that Mr. Di Modica’s rights have been violated as a result of installing a statue of a young girl directly across from the Charging Bull,” Siegel wrote.
Di Modica’s 7,000-pound statue, one of Lower Manhattan’s most popular tourist attractions, has had the whole space to itself since its December 1989 debut — two years after the stock market crash. State Street spokesman Andrew Hopkins released a statement saying the company remained excited over reaction to the statue. “We continue to be grateful to the City of New York and people around the world who have responded so enthusiastically to what the Fearless Girl represents — the power and potential of having more women in leadership,” the statement read.
Siegel, who also sent a letter to officials at SSGA about his complaint, suggested that all the attention paid to the small sculpture could eventually translate into a big payout for Di Modica.
“This became huge,” said Siegel, noting that SSGA likely profited from the interest. “If we get to that point where we have to talk about damages, the law would say the more they made, the more damages Arturo has.”