Disgruntled Sculptor Erects Statue of a Pug Peeing on the “Fearless Girl”

Photo by Shinya Suzuki on Flickr/Creative Commons

Not everyone’s a fan of State Street’s “Fearless Girl” statue, it seems.

The bronze sculpture of a young girl standing defiant across from Wall Street’s famous “Charging Bull” earned the Boston-based investment firm plaudits for promoting a message of gender equality on International Women’s Day—not to mention an uptick in business.

But to sculptor Alex Gardega, the Fearless Girl is merely “corporate nonsense.” That’s why he erected the “Pissing Pug,” a crudely formed pooch relieving himself on the girl’s left leg.

“It has nothing to do with feminism, and it is disrespect to the artist that made the bull,” Gardega, who insisted that he’s “pro-feminism,” told the New York Post. “I decided to build this dog and make it crappy to downgrade the statue, exactly how the girl is a downgrade on the bull.”

https://twitter.com/TheHopsbride/status/869552280680398849

Arturo Di Modica, the Italian-born artist responsible erecting the Charging Bull in 1989, has previously called the Fearless Girl an “advertising trick” by State Street. Di Modica has also criticized the process that led to the bronze girl being placed indefinitely from his sneering steer. “We’re all for gender equality,” his lawyer said in April. “But the questions are because there are other issues.”

Neither Di Modica nor Kristen Visbal, the Fearless Girl’s creator, responded to the Post‘s request for comment on the Pissing Pug.

Update: Tuesday, 12:13 p.m.

State Street has responded to the “Pissing Pug”—sort of—in a statement: “We continue to be grateful to the countless people around the world who continue to responded [sic] so enthusiastically to what the Fearless Girl represents—the power and potential of having more women in leadership. Fearless Girl was created to stand as a reminder that having more women in leadership positions positively contributes to overall performance and strengthens our economy.”