Fearless Girl Just Wants to Be Friends with Charging Bull

The Fearless Girl statue standing assertively in downtown Manhattan has attracted a lot of attention since its installation on International Women’s Day last month. While many people have praised the foundational idea of raising awareness about the continued inequality of women in business, especially with respect to their representation on corporate boards, there has more recently been some pointed criticism. It has come not only from the artist who sculpted the iconic bull that now shares a traffic median with a new, diminutive, pony-tailed companion but also from some who object to what they see as an infantilization of women and others who oppose commercialization of public spaces.

Arturo Di Modica apparently originally conceived his Charging Bull sculpture as a symbol of the elasticity and strength of the American financial system in the wake of the 1987 stock market crash, and he erected it in the dead of night without permission outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Although it was removed – which is what he is demanding of Fearless Girl – popular support eventually resulted in its reinstatement around the corner. It is worth noting that a similar outpouring of popular support means that the original one-month installation of Fearless Girl has been extended through 2018. In a recent press conference, Di Modica expanded his conception of the bull’s meaning to include “freedom in the world, peace, strength, power and love.” When he claims that the bronze child corrupts the meaning of his work and thus violates his rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA), it is unclear which meaning he is referring to, since he has given himself many choices.

Whatever artists believe the meaning of their work to be, the reality is that art is experienced individually by each viewer, and context is crucial. Some pieces of art are essentially meaningless without that context – Malevich’s Black Square is a perfect example – but even art that can be considered masterful with little other knowledge is informed by perspective and circumstance. Charging Bull is an objectively impressive piece of art, but standing as it does in the heart of one of the most iconic financial centers of the world, its symbolism is derived from its surroundings. Although Di Modica may truly believe that his bull symbolizes peace and love, most people associate it with money and power.

VARA is intended to protect artists from “intentional distortion” of their work that would harm their reputation, but it can be argued that Fearless Girl actually enhances the popular conception of the bull. It’s true that the new sculpture derives some of its power from the juxtaposition with the bull, but it does so exactly because of the general agreement that Charging Bull is a symbol of Wall Street and the financial industry. Perhaps Di Modica does not like that the apposition highlights the inequalities in our current financial system, but another interpretation – one advanced by an astute seven-year-old of my acquaintance* – is that the girl is trying to establish a connection with the bull: she just wants to be friends. This isn’t a showdown – it’s an introduction.

In this interpretation, it makes sense that the statue should be a child. Adult women already in the workforce encounter the inequalities inherent in our current system on a daily basis. If the statue were a fully grown woman, then perhaps Di Modica’s argument would have more power: the positioning of the bull would take on an unequivocally negative connotation. A confident, young girl, on the other hand, still has faith that the system will treat her as an equal, and the system still has time to adjust to include her fully as she grows up. Presenting the idea of gender inequality via the statue of a child does not demean women’s maturity – rather, it promotes a hopeful outlook that the problem is not entirely intractable.

The original presentation of Fearless Girl included a plaque reading: “Know the Power of Leadership, SHE makes a difference.” This calls attention to the idea of today’s girls being tomorrow’s leaders, but the criticism has been that the plaque specifically identifies a State Street Global Advisors product – their gender diversity ETF, which trades under the symbol SHE. Since State Street, a large asset management company, conceived of and funded the Fearless Girl installation, the presence of the plaque does make one of Di Modica’s claims – that his art is being used for commercial purposes without his permission, an infringement on his trademark rights – seem more viable. Commissioned in the wake of the 2016 presidential election results and completed by artist Kristen Visbal just after the hugely successful Women’s Marches around the world, the statue was already going to stimulate interest. State Street didn’t need to supplement the exposure they’d get in the press for sponsoring the work with a sign advertising a specific offering. However, the plaque was removed when the original permitting period had expired, which undermines a continued claim by Di Modica, and Fearless Girl now stands on her own with the bull.

Although the SHE embellishment was imprudent, State Street’s achievement in drawing attention to an important issue shouldn’t be overlooked just because it included a marketing campaign. Di Modica’s suit has raised other issues, but Kristen Visbal’s artwork has stimulated awareness of gender inequality in a way that is resonating in the current political and social context. As much as we may disagree about the exact causes of gender inequality and its solutions, we all agree that women should have equal access to our financial system. To ensure that, we just need to make sure that young girls can befriend bulls.

*Many thanks to Morgan Smith for asking what the adults were discussing and then making such a sage observation upon seeing a picture of what all the fuss was about.