Page 14 - IAV Digital Magazine #424

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‘Charging Bull’ Sculptor Says ‘Fearless Girl’ Violates His Rights
by DANIELLA SILVA
The sculptor of Wall Street's iconic "Charging Bull" stat- ue says New York City has violated his legal rights with the placement of "Fearless Girl," a statue of a young girl that has been staring down his cre- ation since International Women's Day on March 8.
Artist Arturo 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 mean- ing of his sculpture.
Di Modica at times became emotional during a press con- ference, 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 place- ment of 'Fearless Girl,'" attorney Norman Siegel said at the press confer- ence.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 statue of the defiant girl was installed by an investment firm on the eve of International Women's Day this year, and city officials announced two weeks ago that the statue was staying put through at least February 2018.
The investment firm, State Street Global Advisors, has said it commissioned the statue from artist Kristen Visbal to call attention to the gen- der pay gap and lack of gender diver- sity on corporate boards in the finan- cial sector.
State Street is also the creator of the Gender Diversity Index SHE, which tracks gender diver- sity in companies.
Siegel said those capital letters were very important, as the plaque at their statue's feet reads "Know the Power of Leadership, SHE makes a difference."
The attorney said
"Fearless Girl" was a "marketing cam- paign" for the SHE index based around the confrontational image of the two statues. This amounted to com- mercial use of "Charging Bull," Siegel said, in viola- tion of Di Modica's trademark rights.
Siegel said attor- neys had mailed let- ters to State Street, its New York adver- tising firm McCann and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in the hopes of get- ting the statue moved. Siegel said they were hoping the parties involved could "amicably resolve" any issues, but they would not rule out filing a law- suit if necessary.
State Street said in
a statement to NBC News that it contin- ued to be grateful to the City of New York for their response to the statue.
"We continue to be grateful to the City of New York and people around the world who have responded so enthu- siastically to what the Fearless Girl represents — the power and potential of having more women in leader- ship," the company said in the state- ment.
Visbal did not imme- diately respond to NBC News' request for comment on Wednesday.
In addition to copy- right issues, Siegel said he believed the statue of the girl vio-
lated Di Modica's rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. Siegel noted this fed- eral law pro- tects artists from "intention- al distortion" of their work that would be "prej- udicial" to their honor or repu- tation.
"We believe that's exactly what hap- pened here," he said.
Siegel said de
Blasio's own words at a March 27
press conference announcing that "Fearless Girl" would remain in place were proof.
De Blasio said at the time that the statue symbolized "stand- ing up to fear, stand- ing up to power, being able to find in yourself strength to do what's right."
The attorney said Wednesday that, "the inescapable implication is that 'Charging Bull' is the source of that fear and power, and a force against doing what is right."
The mayor respond- ed to Di Modica's claims earlier Wednesday in a tweet saying, "Men who don't like
women taking up space are exactly why we need the Fearless Girl."
Di Modica first installed the 11-foot statue of the bull in front of the New York Stock Exchange without a permit in 1987 as a symbol of American financial resilience. Authorities initially removed the statue, but the city later reinstalled it at its current home near Wall Street in the Financial District.
Siegel said his team was seeking unspecified mone- tary damages for Di Modica and was seeking for the city to move "Fearless Girl" to another loca- tion.
They were also seeking government records on the pro- cedures and conver- sations leading to the Department of Transportation's approval to keep the statue through next year.
Siegel stressed that he and his team were proponents of gender equality, but "there are issues of copyright and trade- mark that needed to be and still need to be addressed."
"So remove her and place her some- where else in the city," he added.
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