Wall St. Bull Sculptor Says ‘Fearless Girl’ Statue Violates His Rights

Arturo Di Modica holds a model of his Charging Bull sculpture during a news conference Wednesday, April 12, 2017, in New York. Di Modica and his attorneys announced at the news conference that he's challenging city o... Arturo Di Modica holds a model of his Charging Bull sculpture during a news conference Wednesday, April 12, 2017, in New York. Di Modica and his attorneys announced at the news conference that he's challenging city officials who issued a permit for "Fearless Girl," a bronze statue that faces the bull sculpture on the same cobble stone island in the street, and has drawn worldwide attention. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) MORE LESS

NEW YORK (AP) — The sculptor of Wall Street’s “Charging Bull” says New York City is violating his legal rights by forcing his bronze beast to face off against the “Fearless Girl.”

Artist Arturo Di Modica (dee-MOH’-dih-kuh) said Wednesday that the new neighboring statue changes his bull into something negative.

He says the bull’s message is supposed to be “freedom in the world, peace, strength, power and love.”

His lawyers say “Fearless Girl” exploits the bull for commercial purposes. They want it moved and are hoping for an amicable solution.

Artist Kristen Visbal’s statue of a girl with her hands on her hips was placed on the traffic island on March 7.

Mayor Bill de Blasio says men who don’t like women taking up space “are exactly why we need ‘Fearless Girl.'”

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  1. Awww, the poor little snowflake. Got away with installing his sculpture without permission, and is peeved that someone else can do the same. Poor, poor, little snowflake.

  2. Avatar for jens jens says:

    Hey you, artist! Once your piece is finished and sent off into the world, delivered to the client, you no longer control its fate. You don’t have any say in how the world perceives it. You just want to be relevant again. You won’t by bullying a little girl.

  3. He says the bull’s message is supposed to be “freedom in the world, peace, strength, power and love.”

    Well, I must admit, I don’t see a Bull, scraping the earth with its front leg, is “messaging” peace and love, but then, I am not a liberal arts major.

    ( I thought the bull was a nod to to the well-known Wall Street term ‘Bull Market’ (a rising market ).)

    I like the girl, she is an intelligent and beatiful commentary on the Bull.

    If we crowd sourced a giant heap of BS (in bronze, naturally), to be placed behind his ‘love bull’, would that make Di Modica happy ?

  4. Di Modica said the bull’s message was supposed to be “freedom in the world, peace, strength, power and love.” Strength and power? Sure, but peace, love and freedom in the world? Please. A raging bull on Wall Street, literally, reads more like a Marxist critique of late stage capitalism and, given the artist’s petulance, a wounded patriarchy. But the real irony is that that little girl is better art.

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