As you may or may not know, back on March 8th, International Women’s Day, a statue of a young girl appeared opposite the raging bull statue on Wall Street.
The statue of the defiant girl was installed by investment firm State Street Global Advisors, who has said it commissioned the statue from artist Kristen Visbal to call attention to the gender pay gap and lack of gender diversity on corporate boards in the financial sector.
Strong and defiant, the statue quickly became a must see for tourist and modern day suffragettes. Area businesses even report a notable spike in traffic. Which is why city officials were easily swayed into allowing the gorilla style art installment to stay through February 2018.
Still one person is not happy about the statue. Artist Arturo Di Modica, the man who created the “Charging Bull” back in 1987.
Di Modica and his lawyers argued at a press conference in New York City on Wednesday that the placement of the statue was copyright infringement and distorted the meaning of his sculpture.
Di Modica at times became emotional during a press conference, and said the bull’s message was supposed to be “freedom in the world, peace, strength, power and love.”
“In our opinion, a deliberate choice was made to exploit and to appropriate the ‘Charging Bull’ through the placement of ‘Fearless Girl,'” attorney Norman Siegel said at the press conference.
Siegel said they believed the artist’s rights had been violated as a result of placing the statue of the girl “directly across from the ‘Charging Bull,'” without Di Modica’s permission.
The bull will remain, the little Hoe will be gone soon, underneath the desk of the Mayor.