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[Dalek]

An artist hated the ‘Fearless Girl’ statue – so he put this at her feet

For nearly three months, the “Fearless Girl” statue has stared down the “Charging Bull,” an iconic, 11-foot, 3-ton monument to “peace, strength, power and love,” according to the artist.

This weekend, New York artist Alex Gardega decided he’d had enough.

While “messing around” in his studio, Gardega decided to create a small sculpture of a urinating dog, which he placed beside the “Fearless Girl” statue’s left leg for several hours Monday, drawing curious and angry onlookers and unleashing the latest round the battle of Wall Street statues.

The name of the sculpture: “Pissing Pug.” (Though he told NBC News it was called “Sketchy Dog.”)

“The logic explains itself,” Gardega told The Washington Post. “The dog invading her space is reflective of her invading the space that belongs to the bull.”

“I happen to know someone who knows the artist who made the bull and so I know what he put into that work,” he added. “He dropped about $350,00 of his own money into the sculpture and ‘Fearless Girl’ statue changes the meaning.”

The 4-foot tall statue was placed in front of the bronze bull March 7, near the first anniversary of the Gender Diversity Index SHE, which tracks companies that are gender diverse. It was commissioned by investment firm State Street Global Advisors as an advertising campaign.

Delaware-based artist Kristen Visbal cast the bronze girl, who wears pigtails and a windblown dress, and, with hands on her hips, stares daringly at the beast before her, The Washington Post’s Katie Mettler reported last month.

“We were focusing on making a statement about the future of Wall Street,” Visbal told CNN Money last month. “We wanted this wonderful contrast.”

The project is about “girl power,” she said, a message to corporate boards on Wall Street with a dearth of women members “that we are here, that we are heard, that we are permanent.”

The plaque at the feet of “Fearless Girl” reads: “Know the power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference.”

“Fearless girl” has become a tourist fixture in Lower Manhattan, with more than 25,000 Instagram photos tagged #fearlessgirl. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has allowed the temporary statue to remain in Bowling Green Park until February 2018.

Arturo Di Modica, the bull’s creator, told the Associated Press last month that he considers “Fearless Girl” an “advertising trick” that alters the creative messaging of his legendary work by implying that the two statues are locked in a conflicted faceoff.

Di Modica’s attorney, Norman Siegel, the former director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, told The Post that he sent information requests to the city of New York and SAGA informing both entities that the statue violated his client’s rights under copyright law.

To date, Siegel said, he’s heard nothing back from the city or SAGA.

“My hope back then was to sit down and amicably resolve this issue,” he said, noting that he hasn’t filed a lawsuit yet. “Silence at least on the city and SSGA’s part speaks for itself. I’m disappointed because I was trying to avoid litigation if possible.”

Gabriel Koren, the artist behind a sculpture of Frederick Douglass peering into Harlem from Central Park, told The Post that she can understand why a competing work of art — placed without permission — would present a serious problem for an artist.

“Every sculpture needs space. That is the nature of sculpture,” she said. “If you put something else there, it changes it.” “Fearless Girl,” she said, is “cute,” but “you don’t stand up for women’s rights at the expense of the artist’s rights. Each right is equally important. I am saying this as a woman.”

With the statue war in limbo, and Gardega wanting to stand up for his fellow artist, he decided to act. He created the dog sculpture fairly quickly, he said, and even noted that he did a shoddy job on the sculpture to hint at how unworthy “Fearless Girl” is in comparison to the bull.

“I made it in a couple hours and it looks like that as well,” Gardega said.

Gardega has a knack for creating art that grabs headlines. In 2012, the Brooklyn-based provocateur unveiled a Bernie Madoff-themed hot sauce he called “Bernie in Hell,” according to the New York Daily News. He’s also known for creating New York City trading cards and painting the Sistine Chapel on the ceiling of his apartment, the paper reported.

 

[anderyoung]

repost of this with a click bait title

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1382625

 

[ModBot]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1382625