Fearless Girl brings women visibility in a city full of statues of men

[niyad]

Fearless Girl brings women visibility in a city full of statues of men

Despite controversy over its placement, people are flocking to the latest, most famous statue in New York City that shows ‘women have balls (ovaries), too’

https://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_1920w/Boston/2011-2020/2017/03/08/BostonGlobe.com/Politics/Images/05835044[1].jpg





Fearless Girl has become a symbol of feminist strength and possibility. Photograph: Mark Lennihan/Associated Press


Almost all the public statues of people in New York City depict men. There is a huge green exception in New York harbor. But Lady Liberty wasn’t real, not like the men who inspired the 23 statues planted in Central Park alone. (There are no statues of real women in Central Park, though there is one of Alice in Wonderland.) The latest, most famous statue in New York City does not depict a historical figure, either, or a woman, but she is a she. Fearless Girl, facing off with Charging Bull near Wall Street at the foot of Broadway, has given the city its biggest public art controversy since Christo and Jeanne-Claude draped Central Park with orange “gates” in 2005.

. . . . .



But Fearless Girl, about 20ft away, is equally popular, in a markedly and interestingly different way. All day long, with rarely a second’s lag, people take turns linking arms and posing with the piece, including many young girls encouraged forward by their moms and dads. Fearless Girl, by artist Kristen Visbal, has plainly become, for very many of the thousands of people who visit her daily, exactly what the global asset management firm that had her installed for International Women’s Day last month asserted she was: a symbol of feminist strength and possibility.



Adam Burkemper, who was in town this week with his family from Missouri, approached the statue with his 11-year-old daughter. “See the little girl?” Burkemper asked. “That’s a little girl taking on a bull. Cool, huh? When I saw that, I thought of you.” His daughter smiled.

“I think this is a really important statue,” said Shari Mohammed, who had come in from Brooklyn to check it out. “And it’s good for a lot of younger girls. It’s not just adults.” Mohammed pointed out that a statue of a woman or girl in the city was rare, and said Fearless Girl was a symbol for “equality for women in general”. I think it’s really sad that we still don’t have equal pay in the workplace in 2017,” she said. “Why is that even a debate? It’s preposterous.”

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Fearless Girl is currently slated for removal next year, but public affection for the statue, as in the case of Charging Bull, could secure a longer stay. “The history of the piece is really up to the people of New York and the public,” Visbal said. Burkemper, who had introduced the piece to his daughter, summarized the debate.
“It’s art, man. It’s art,” he said. “We all know what it’s for.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/14/fearless-girl-statue-women-new-york-bull

[brush]

1. "Fearless Girl" stands for female empowerment and I'm an advocate of that, but being...

an artist myself, I side with the "Charging Bull" sculptor that "Fearless Girl" should be placed somewhere else that doesn't infringe upon and change the meaning of "Charging Bull".

The sculptor and backers of "Fearless Girl" placed it purposely in such a position as to create a new piece of art in combination with "Charging Bull" completely without regard for the "Charging Bull" sculptor's intent or his feelings.

If they wanted to make such a statement as female empowerment, the "Fearless Girl" piece should have done that wholly and by itself without taking a short cut and being dependent upon another artist's work to accomplish that — in other words, do a work that completes your statement, and frankly, get your own space.

[niyad]

2. "Men who don't like women taking up space are exactly why we need the Fearless Girl."

. . . .

Yesterday, in response to Di Modica’s call for the work’s relocation, de Blasio tweeted: “Men who don’t like women taking up space are exactly why we need the Fearless Girl.”

. . . .

https://hyperallergic.com/372128/sculptor-of-wall-streets-charging-bull-demands-relocation-of-fearless-girl/

[question everything]

3. And now we hear that the man who created charging bull is unhappy with the new neighbor

'Charging Bull’ sculptor says ‘Fearless Girl’ distorts his art. He’s fighting back.

With hopes of dispensing the “perfect antidote” to the stock market crash of 1987, Italian-born sculptor Arturo Di Modica spent two years welding a 7,000 pound bronze bull statue designed to capture the resilience of the American people.

Under the cover of night and without a permit, he installed his massive “Charging Bull” directly before the New York Stock Exchange, a gift New Yorkers loved but New York City initially hated. Authorities removed it, but later reinstalled it under pressure at a small public park in the financial district.

In the 28 years since, it has become an institution.

Then last month, on International Women’s Day, a new statue of a symbolically brave “Fearless Girl” stole its spotlight — and, Di Modica says, fundamentally corrupted the artistic integrity of his “Charging Bull.”

More..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/04/12/charging-bull-sculptor-says-fearless-girl-distorts-his-art-hes-fighting-back/?utm_term=.2edf8b9f8b1c

[niyad]

4. see de blasio's comment above