Sculptor Arturo Di Modica isn't happy about the "Fearless Girl" symbol that's currently facing his famed "Charging Bull" statue on Wall Street.
A bronze statue of a young girl with her chin up and her hands on her hips was installed in front of the bull the day before International Women’s Day.
“It’s wrong what they did,” Di Modica, who installed the 7,100-pound bull statue in front of the New York Stock Exchange in 1989 before it was moved a few blocks away to Bowling Green Park, where it’s been for the past several years, told MarketWatch.
Di Modica said Monday the "Fearless Girl" statue is nothing more than a bad marketing stunt.
“That is not a symbol! That’s an advertising trick,” he said. “Women, girls, that’s great, but that’s not what that [my sculpture] is.”
“I put it there for art,” Di Modica added. “My bull is a symbol for America. My bull is a symbol of prosperity and for strength.”
"To Di Modica," MarketWatch said, "the 50-inch girl is almost a form of vandalism of his work, recasting his bull as a villain, an oppressor. It would be as though someone put an AR-15 rifle in the hands of Michelangelo’s David."
Despite the sculptor's remarks, State Street Global Investors says the installment of the "Fearless Girl" statue — which is temporary — is simply a way to honor women around the world and celebrate the leadership they bring to the table.
“This temporary installation has elevated important conversations about women in leadership, and we’re as excited by that as many New Yorkers are!” mayoral spokeswoman Natalie Grybauskas said, according to the New York Daily News.
“We’re exploring the possibility of keeping the ‘Fearless Girl’ for longer than currently permitted,” she added.
The new statue was originally going to be up for just a week, but it was extended to a month.
The Daily News noted that a petition calling for the permanent installment of the girl statue is gaining strong support, having garnered a significant number of signatures thus far.
Kristen Visbal, the sculptor of the “Fearless Girl,” has not commented on Di Modica’s statements.
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