Locking ho orns over ‘Bull l’
Artist, Blas trade barbs s
Mayor de Blasio doubled down on his defense of the “Fearless Girl” Wednesday, as the artwork’s biggest critic — “Charging Bull” creator Arturo Di Modica — questioned whether Hizzoner is in cahoots with the investment firm that erected the popular new statue.
Di Modica and a team of lawyers have filed a Freedom of Information request seeking to get to the bottom of why de Blasio is bending over backward to support “Fearless Girl.”
The artist wants to know if the Office of Citywide Event Coordination and Management and the Street Activity Permit Office had talks with the girl’s owner, State Street Global Advisors, before allowing the four-foot statue to stay in place until next year.
State Street placed the girl facing the bull at the south end of Broadway last month as a p.r. stunt for International Women’s Day.
Di Modica’s lawyer, Norman Sie- gel, also called for the girl to be removed immediately, as it violates his client’s copyright.
“The placement of the statue of the young girl in opposition to ‘Charging Bull’ has undermined the integrity [of ] and modified the ‘Charging Bull,’ ” Siegel said at a press conference Wednesday. “The ‘Charging Bull’ no longer carries a positive, optimistic message. Rather it has been transformed into a negative force and a threat.”
Continuing Wednesday to play the role of “Fearless Girl’s” white knight, the mayor was unmoved by the artist’s complaints.
“Men who don’t like women taking up space are exactly why we need the ‘Fearless Girl,’ ” de Blasio tweeted minutes before Di Modica’s press conference.
Di Modica, who is suffering from cancer, got emotional at the event as he said his bull, which at its highest point is 11 feet tall,is supposed to represent “freedom in the world, peace, strength, power and love” but “Fearless Girl” has tarnished the message.
“The girl is right in front doing this, ‘Now I’m here, what are you going to do?’ ” Di Modica complained.
He then declared in a voice that could barely rise above a whisper, “I am an artist!”
It’s up to the courts as to whether Arturo Di Modica has any legal right to stop the “Fearless Girl” statue from destroying the meaning of his own “Charging Bull” — but he’s clearly right to call out that truth.
At his own expense ($350,000), the Italian sculptor created the bull decades ago to symbolize the strength and resilience of Wall Street. But the girl (though a fine work in its own right) turns his bull into a symbol of . . . sexism.
Adding insult to injury, State Street Global Advisors installed “Fearless Girl” as an advertising ploy — with a plaque that even subtly promoted the company’s SHE investment fund. Should an ad be allowed to destroy Di Modica’s art?
As The Post reports, the sculptor and a half-dozen lawyers on Wednesday announced plans to sue for infringement of his artistic copyright.
The offending statue can still make its point if placed elsewhere, he argues — say, facing not the bull, but the Stock Exchange itself.
State Street, and the city, should consider that move: It might even strengthen the message of “Fearless Girl.”