The sculptor of Wall Street’s “Charging Bull” statue is seeing red over New York City’s decision to keep in place the “Fearless Girl” sculpture that now stares it down, saying the adjacent art has changed the meaning of his work and violated his legal rights.
The city’s ruling to let the bronze depiction of a defiant girl remain until February 2018 just feet from the bull’s flaring nostrils should be reviewed, said a lawyer for sculptor Arturo Di Modica.
“How did the process happen and should permits be revoked?” the attorney, Norman Siegel, said in an interview on Wednesday, adding that his client ought to have been consulted, reports Reuters.
“He should have been asked, never was,” Siegel said. “There are copyright and trademark infringement issues.”
Di Modica told a news conference he envisioned his statue as a positive symbol, but that the addition of the courageous girl turned his bull into a villain.
“It’s really bad,” Di Modica said, sounding distraught and adding that the bull was loved by people “all over the world.”
The 50-inch (127-cm) girl stands fists on hips on a cobble stone plaza, eye-balling the 11-foot (3.4-meter) bull that has occupied the space in Manhattan’s financial district for nearly three decades.
Siegel said they want the girl sculpture moved and for Di Modica to be awarded damages for the violation of his legal, statutory rights.
Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted in response: “Men who don’t like women taking up space are exactly why we need the Fearless Girl.”
