Posted on 04/18/2017 12:23:34 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
I got metaphorically spanked a couple of days ago. Folks have been talking about the Fearless Girl statue ever since it was dropped in Manhattan’s Financial District some five weeks ago. I have occasionally added a comment or two to some of the online discussions about the statue.
Recently most of the Fearless Girl discussions have focused on the complaints by Arturo Di Modica, the sculptor who created Charging Bull. He wants Fearless Girl removed, and that boy is taking a metric ton of shit for saying that. Here’s what I said that got me spanked:
The guy has a point.
This happened in maybe three different discussions over the last week or so. In each case I explained briefly why I believe Di Modica has a point (and I’ll explain it again in a bit), and for the most part folks either accepted my comments or ignored them. Which is pretty common for online discussions. But in one discussion my comment sparked this:
Men who don’t like women taking up space are exactly why we need the Fearless Girl.
Which — and this doesn’t need to be said, but I’m okay with saying the obvious — is a perfectly valid response. It’s also one I agree with. As far as that goes, it’s one NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio agrees with, since he said it first (although, to be fair, probably one of his public relations people first said it first).
But here’s the thing: you can completely agree with the woman who responded to my comment AND you can still acknowledge that Arturo Di Modica has a point. Those aren’t mutually exclusive or contradictory points of view.
Let me apologize here, because I have to do some history — and for reasons I’ve never understood, some folks actively dislike history. It’s necessary though. So here we go. Back in 1987 there was a global stock market crash. Doesn’t matter why (at least not for this discussion), but stock markets everywhere — everywhere — tanked. Arturo Di Modica, a Sicilian immigrant who became a naturalized citizen of the U.S., responded by creating Charging Bull — a bronze sculpture of a…well, a charging bull. It took him two years to make it. The thing weighs more than 7000 pounds, and cost Di Modica some US$350,000 of his own money. He said he wanted the bull to represent “the strength and power of the American people”. He had it trucked into the Financial District and set it up, completely without permission. It’s maybe the only significant work of guerrilla capitalist art in existence.
People loved it. The assholes who ran the New York Stock Exchange, for some reason, didn’t. They called the police, and pretty soon the statue was removed and impounded. A fuss was raised, the city agreed to temporarily install it, and the public was pleased. It’s been almost thirty years, and Charging Bull is still owned by Di Modica, still on temporary loan to the city, still one of the most recognizable symbols of New York City.
And that brings us to March 7th of this year, the day before International Women’s Day. Fearless Girl appeared, standing in front of Charging Bull. On the surface, it appears to be another work of guerrilla art — but it’s not. Unlike Di Modica’s work, Fearless Girl was commissioned. Commissioned not by an individual, but by an investment fund called State Street Global Advisors, which has assets in excess of US$2.4 trillion. That’s serious money. It was commissioned as part of an advertising campaign developed by McCann, a global advertising corporation. And it was commissioned to be presented on the first anniversary of State Street Global’s “Gender Diversity Index” fund, which has the following NASDAQ ticker symbol: SHE. And finally, along with Fearless Girl is a bronze plaque that reads:
Know the power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference.
Note it’s not She makes a difference, it’s SHE makes a difference. It’s not referring to the girl; it’s referring to the NASDAQ symbol. It’s not a work of guerrilla art; it’s an extremely clever advertising scheme. This is what makes it clever: Fearless Girl derives its power almost entirely from Di Modica’s statue. The sculptor, Kristen Visbal, sort of acknowledges this. She’s said this about her statue:
“She’s not angry at the bull — she’s confident, she knows what she’s capable of, and she’s wanting the bull to take note.”
It’s all about the bull. If it were placed anywhere else, Fearless Girl would still be a very fine statue — but without facing Charging Bull the Fearless Girl has nothing to be fearless to. Or about. Whatever. Fearless Girl, without Di Modica’s bull, without the context provided by the bull, becomes Really Confident Girl.
Continues at link...
Since he still owns it, he can remove it............................
Arturo Di Monica does not own or in any way control the space where the Fearless Girl is situated.
He does not own the land, he does not own the sight lines. The only thing he owns in the Charging Bull and he has loaned that to the city.
I understand the artists problem. He had a piece of work that captured the volatility and power of the markets. But the Fearless Girl artist built half a work. And we the city puts the half a work in front of the other work it completes the work. So the first artist loses his work. And its replaced with a work where the bull is an aggressive beast turning away from a fearless little girl. Its about the girl and not the market. So the first work is no more. I can understand why the artist is a little upset.
It’s annoying and stupid. Like when you see a 110 lb waif in movies beating up mafia thugs, commandos, and football players.
I would call the sculpture “city girl too stupid to know she’s about to die”.
Bullshit.
This is a stupid statue....the family of the first little girl that goes into a field with a bull and stares him down, after seeing this, gets to sue the people who put it there.
That’s how I saw it...at first.
However - since I’m always one for clever marketing, I see the other aspect of it, too.
But, if the first artist took away his Charging Bull, then the ad falls apart, so...
It’s his move! ;)
Since that is also the default view of the MSM and the political establishment, I don't expect the girl to be removed any time soon.
Agreed.
I see the imagery as 2 seconds before fearless girl become fearless paste...
So anyone can put up a statue anywhere in NYC now?
Let’s put a Trump statue there too.
She needs a red MAGA Hat!
This would have much the same effect on Fearless Girl as Fearless Girl had on Charging Bull: It would make Fearless Girl inconsequential...and standing defiant in the face of...well, whatever issues from that end of a bull.
It would be nice to see Fearless Girl impaled on Charging Bull’s horns.
Or, to be less combative, to stand at the bull’s side and face the world’s challenges together.
He could turn it around and put a pile of bronze poop behind it.
LOL
Someone needs to put up another bronze behind fearless girl. A section of fence with a sign: “Don’t enter the field unless you can cross it in 9 seconds ... because the bull can cross it in 10.”
Call it “About to die.”
If the girl was facing another direction, it would be worthless art. Therefore it derives it’s value from the Bull. That is an intellectual theft. Doesn’t mean there is a legal remedy, just that it deserves contempt.
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