For International Women’s Day, the firm State Street Global Advisors paid to install the Fearless Girl statue yards away from the famous Charging Bull statue on Wall Street. Fearless Girl was a hit! Tourists flocked to the street art, and everyone thought it was the coolest thing. Well, everyone except for the artist who made Charging Bull. He’s suing the city and complaining loudly, because he feels like Fearless Girl charges the nature of his Charging Bull. It’s so funny, right? It’s funny that the presence of an inanimate, wordless girl in a predominately “male” space has made a handful of bros absolutely lose their minds.
Anyway, Fearless Girl has all of her permits and she’s going to stay on Wall Street for at least another year. So now another artist has taken it upon himself to show the world how much he hates the appearance of women (statues of women) in traditionally bro-tastic places. The artist is Alex Gardega, and he was so disgusted by Fearless Girl that he created a statue of Pissing Pug, a dog pissing on Fearless Girl’s leg.
Gee whiz, artists are so sensitive! City sculptor Alex Gardega — seething over the Fearless Girl statue being placed across from Wall Street’s Charging Bull — has decided to retaliate with a work of his own. Gardega created a statue of a small dog, titled Pissing Pug, and his sloppily crafted pooch takes direct aim at Fearless Girl — or, at least, at her left leg.
“This is corporate nonsense,” Gardega told The Post of Fearless Girl, saying it was put opposite artist Arturo Di Modica’s famed bull as a publicity stunt by a Boston-based financial firm. “It has nothing to do with feminism, and it is disrespect to the artist that made the bull,” he said. “That bull had integrity.”
The Upper West Side artist sniffed that he even made his dog particularly poorly just to stick it to Fearless Girl even more.
“I decided to build this dog and make it crappy to downgrade the statue, exactly how the girl is a downgrade on the bull,” said Gardega, who has never met the other statues’ creators. But many female passers-by Monday said Fearless Girl has come to represent women taking on Wall Street — and just about anybody else standing up to financial firms — and said Gardega’s peeing dog is misogynistic.
“That’s an a–hole move. You call this art?” said one woman who kicked the dog statue as she walked by. But Gardega insisted that he is “pro-feminism” and has “nothing against the sculptor whatsoever.”
Yeah, this is just another reminder that Wall Street and the art world can agree on one thing: NO GIRLS ALLOWED! I get the “artistic” argument Alex Gardega is trying to make, which is that adding sculptures around existing sculptures changes the nature of the original sculpture. But the message of Fearless Girl standing in front of the Charging Bull was: women and girls can be fearless, they can be strong, they can stand up to anything, especially in a male-dominated industry or a male-dominated world. The message of Pissing Pug is that women’s fearlessness doesn’t matter, they’ll still be maligned and pissed on throughout their lives.
Enraged artist places statue of urinating dog next to "Fearless Girl" in NY's Financial District pic.twitter.com/pOSm2lFNFV
— Janet Shamlian (@JanetShamlian) May 30, 2017
Photos courtesy of WENN, Twitter.
What fresh hell is this?
some super-sensitive snowflake dude-bro had his widdle feewings hurt.
He’s the epitome of every dude bro who can’t handle that the attention isn’t on him for one second!
He can put his shirty art next to her and she will STILL remain fearless. And he INSISTS he’s pro feminism. Yeah, okay buddy.
Eyes sprained from rolling so hard!!
And she (the statue) is paying as much attention to it as we should: NONE! What a POS… total a**wipe move by a butt-hurt misogynist.
The thin skins of men probably. So sick of women being labeled as emptional creatures when grown as* men can’t even handle a pro-woman statue. Men in reality are the true delicate creatures of this culture.
They are so! Yep.
Just had a talk with some mom friends about this very thing! Emotional labor. Not only are women branded as emotional, hysterical, creatures but we are expected to care about everything. We are the thank you note writers, the rsvpr’s, the household managers, the chore delegation team, the apology crew when plans change or our kid does something uncouth, the cleaners of messes both literal and emotional, the person who bends over backwards on a daily basis to calm the emotional tides of our household, the homework helpers, the lunch packers, the meal planners, the personal chefs, the party planning committee, the chauffeurs, the grounders and bad cops, it is a level of thoughtfulness and responsibility for the whole damn human race and our family that is simply not expected of men. But we are also over caring and emotional, or we are ice cold shrews who don’t value our family. So we deal with these harmful labels and archetypes on top of all the caring that is expected of us. Throw a career on top of that and an advanced degree and there’s a pretty clear picture of what’s expected of women in these times. And oh yes, to look amazing the entire time, preferably like a 20 year old yoga instructor. When men break this pattern they get all kinds of accolades and are told what outstanding people they are for merely helping their SO’s and female friends in small ways or being a dad. Everything is a moral test and a purity test for women. The burden of emotional labor is on us because moms “just take care of things” and women are still largely expected to micromanage ongoing s of the home and family. And then whiney ass dudes can’t handle a three foot tall sculpture of a little girl???? Seriously????? I just can’t with men these days. Wtf is wrong with these prickly little p*ssy grabbers and f*ck the system that continues to indulge these brats who can’t handle one iota of feminine power. We’re coming for you. We’re getting your degrees and running for office and demanding equal pay and doing your jobs better than you are. Cry us a river. P*ssy grabs back. This is SO ridiculous. I just can’t.
@Justjj +1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Amen Justjj, amen!
Justjj-
Preach, sister!
Justjj: from your lips to God(ess)’s ears!
Well said JJ !!!
@ JustJJ, if there was a standing ovation emoji, I’d fill this box with them for you!
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻
@justjj
*Mic Drop!!* That was beautiful.
@Justjj THANK YOU 🙂 <3
@Justjj: standing ovation from my desk!
There was an intense debate in France (my home country) a few weeks ago on this. We call it “charge mentale” in French. The debate was triggered by a great comic strip (which you can still see here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/EmmaFnc/photos/?tab=album&album_id=441158706220346) and it really made the headlines here. I have to say: I felt less alone after reading it. And your post 🙂
Another Y|E|S to that.
(There’s a translation of that brilliant French webcomic into English, here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/26/gender-wars-household-chores-comic )
Standing on my desk for you @Justjj!!!
THIS ALL OF THE THIS!!!!
I’m sure he believes he’s pro-feminist, and that this insult is an anti-corporate statement. Because men are logical and women are crazy, so if he believes something it must be true.
I’ve never wanted art to be vandalized before but here we are.
I want someone to paint it bright p*ssy pink, like the hats.
Better yet, put a pussyhat ON the pug and call it pussypug.
Pussy PUG hahahahahaha. Should have chosen a different dog!
a hat would be good, but too easy to remove.
neon pink paint is much harder to get off. 😉
Someone get on this task!
Painted on, pink hatted pussypug ~ YES PLEASE!!!!
Plus, he’s going to make loads of money from the anti-everything crowd by pretending these are his deeply held beliefs.
Hey, he might even get to be President and use the office to garner all sorts of loan forgiveness from foreign banks in the 100s of million range for looking the other way when they invade sovereign nations, but that’s just a hypothetical.
I, for one, love this. Let the pissing-match continue until there are 100 sculptures! I want a teeny tiny sculpture park.
I was thinking the same. 😀
As a matter of fact, I think I’m going to install one of my sculptures there one night. This is a time-honored tradition/way for artists to get recognition. Everyone’s playing the PR game as they should. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Yes, same here! I’d be happy to see many more little statues, in the end just depicting the diversity of views in this world… and I’m trying to remain peaceful, so I’m writing this in the most loving way. This guy, whose name didn’t particularly stick, made a reeeally clever attempt to get his image out there, in a fake-feminist support kind of way (thanks, I feel like you’re totally speaking for me), and yeah, I’m just waiting for other artists of all genders to chime in and put their own statues next to / on top of that dog statue. Personally, I’d love to see a little smurf sitting on that dear pug’s nose, holding a flower or something.
@LinaLamont, it would be a pleasure to see your idea manifested, whatever it is.
It really did trigger some people didn’t it. A little girl statue lol, people are ridiculous. These hacks think its also funny, they want people to laugh at their “humor”. So delicate in emption not only do they have to compete but they want a good laugh. They are such fragile little 7th graders.
How little of a dick must you have if you’re so offended by a statue of a little girl?
Well artists even bad ones can be full of**** ..The world they live in is as full of poseurs as the entertainment industry..perhaps more so..
Maybe he did see it as an intrusion but not his fight…
Why bring in a dog to this?…
Perhaps we need someone to melt that down and show it with its tail wagging supporting the little girl!!
Very tiny. The best thing is that Ferless Girl looks even better in contrast. Head high, looking like a boss regardless of the tiny dog-bros trying to bring her down.
I love that there are many more men as in the first pic who do like fearless girl!
+1
+2
Don’t forget their tiny brains, fragile egos and cry baby why me souls.
Men DO try to tear us down, but she persists.
Without permits, isn’t this just littering and shouldn’t it be removed and him fined?
I hope the past year or so has been a wake-up call to just how virulent misogyny is in America. It’s shameful. Even a sculpture is disrespected. And the haters try to build excuses to mask their hatefulness. I’m so tired of men’s bs.
So true.
I hear you. And I agree.
Couldn’t agree more!
Basic, mediocre men continue to be basic, mediocre men.
And that’s what hurts.
The most uninspiring of them figured that at least they were superior to women and now we are taking their jobs and doing it better. There is more of this pissing contest to come.
I still say to everyone in the world today. STAND AND FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IT IS RIGHT. I am sick and tired of any person who has a mind to persecute another person for the insecure superiority. And speaking of SUPERIORITY… really? Feeling superior is tacky and old. If anyone feels smug, aloof and self-righteous for their own benefits then they will know when they will become a minority while the minority will become Victorious.
Remember… look what happened to Adolf Hitler.
I think that’s an unfortunate example tbh.
Welcome to Tuesday morning in America
No different here in Britain I assure you.
The funny thing is, they’re bringing more attention to how threatening women are to men in “their” spaces moreso than if they just ignored it.
Yes!!..I think as Kaiser said it represents just how you stand up..some little human will take a sideswipe..let it stay to represent misogyny the world over!
Even a little girl is to be disparaged!
So true Veronica.
Ironic that a. He has nothing to do with the original statue, b. He is a really crappy artist because that just looks like a pile of fur.
IF nothing else, we definitely can laugh at these tiny dk, insecure men for generations to come.
I vote for a statute of a woman dog catcher getting that dog with her net!
Or of a cat taking a swipe at his dangles. I saw that happen once. I think the dog is still in therapy.
Pathetic.
It almost proves the defendants point that a sculpture next to another sculpture doesn’t change the meaning of original sculpture, bc that pig just looks stupid.
But I do admit I am a bit tickled by this.
you forgot “failing”.
Welp, i’m going to start my foray into sculpture. My inaugural piece will be a carpet of smashed dicks at the feet of the Girl, getting peed on by the pug.
It will symbolize the fragility of masculinity. Some with be artistic dicks, some will be finance dicks.Every dick can be represented. I may even include a super smashed orange dick, just for chuckles.
Unfortunately you won’t be able to see the orange one unless you look under a scientific microscope 🔬
Well, that was clearly thought through. As Kaiser said, this only has one message. You can piss on our leg but we’re still fearless. Thank you for pointing that out, super sensitive frat bro!
Men are so easily upset, it’s like every little thing brings on the vapors and hysteria. I really don’t know if they, with all that testosterone, should be trusted with high powered jobs. I mean just look at the dude in the White House. We should really re-think letting men and their hormones be in charge.
We succeed, even when the world pisses on us. Take note bros, that’s how you deal with adversity.
Maybe men need to stay at home and look after the kids….
Which would be easier for them as it not so challenging and they are emotional enough to deal with it…and not as bright..smaller brains !!!
Meanwhile women should get on with ruling the world 🌎 as they,men, have made such a total mess of the whole thing!!!
Until this ‘election’ I never realised how emotionally fragile a lot of men were. It’s been a real eye opener. Clearly feminism is working.
“Men are so easily upset, it’s like every little thing brings on the vapors and hysteria.”
So true! Did you read how they went into full meltdown mode over female only screenings of Wonder woman. They complained and women saw to it that tickets sold out within the hour.
Then the theatre went for another women only viewing! I mean, it is one cinema, in one city. They could still watch the movie in another cinema but being a man and a snowflake is now a full time job.
I swear if they could bottle rich, powerful, man tears and sell them at 7-11 it would be the best energy and endurance drink on the market. Probably full of electrolytes. I’d drink them. 👍
Yeah, that was my thought. The pathetic, butt-hurt symbolism is really pretty perfect: small, spoilt dog literally tries to piss on a women’s parade.
Backstory on what? The bull? The girl? The peeing animal?
The backstory on Fearless Girl. Which was brought up on previous threads.
I know about that backstory. I just wasn’t sure which one she was referring to. You could say that the guy who put the dog there is the individual artist.
I think Djamila is referring to this:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/04/12/the_charging_bull_sculptor_is_right_fearless_girl_should_go.html
A female artist created the piece with private funds, as many successful artists do.
This isn’t valid criticism, and in previous articles this was discussed in depth.
The original piece was a guerilla piece that the artist put in to spite the finance world. It’s slowly become a symbol of something else. No reason Fearless Girl should be any different.
Those posing it at art vs corporations are being silly, or poor losers because they can’t find sponsors themselves.
Dear Pug Artist,
There are a gazillion other ways to use your art in the service of fighting the corporate machine besides taking on fearless girl. We suggest you get going on that since you care so much. Of course, taking her on was a heck of a way to get PR. So, so clever of you.
Sincerely,
Everyone
its so lame … doesn’t resemble a Pug in ANY way …wth.
I just thought about how f*cking insensitive this is, to degrade the likeness of a young girl after what just happened in Manchester. We never learn.
Woman haters the world over..especially ones who do not know there place and represent anything more than a silent pretty servant!
I agree and regardless of artist vs corp….it’s a dog taking a piss on a little girl. It’s not just tasteless, it is offensive. Little girls being degraded by being pissed on is f-ing disgusting. This vile man needs to take his little dog & gtfo.
Yep, it it truly offensive.
I’m sorry, but, that’s a stretch.
Count me as one who intensely dislikes what Fearless Girl does to the meaning of Charging Bull. And also count me as a feminist who doesn’t feel at all represented or empowered by a retro female child of Norman Rockwell vintage. .
It doesn’t really bother me either way but I can see why the charging bull artist would have gotten upset. It does seem to change the meaning of his piece from something to be proud of to something negative.
As for the dog, nope. That is way too tacky. Shouldn’t be there. If for no other reason than it is just childish and gross. My son would get in trouble for thinking something like that was cute.
and me
wow sculpture is not his forte.
what a very weak showing of his “talent”.
the depths of his creativity and ability are on display with maximum exposure.
so glad to know as an artist his only apparent skill is in marketing.
smh i guess you reap what you sow?
I was thinking I could put something up and then say it isn’t that good as I wanted to show my disdain for the subject!!!
To my old eyes in that photo it looks like a turd coloured Garfield!!
If that is a pug then he needs to retrain at college..if he ever did!!
thank you. its awful. regardless.
Have YOU read the backstory? The female artist who created Fearless Girl is not somehow more “corporate” than this artist simply because a private company funded her piece (again NOT unusual for public art, very very common actually). She’s a working artist in her own right and has EVERY right to accept a commissioned project.
Additionally, the statue was meant promote the appointment of women on corporate boards and, via a plaque on the ground in front of “Fearless Girl,” their Gender Diversity Index fund.
What’s ironic is that people complaining about it being a PR move consistently have NO idea what the statue is actually promoting, so for a so-called “PR stunt” I guess it was a bit of a fail, huh?
What a sad loser.
Should get his money back for his artistic education. That pug looks like a turd. And his excuse is that he couldn’t be bothered because he has so much disdain for it. Way to waste time while showing the world you have zero talent. Sad.
He thinks this is funny? Guess what? The only thing I can think of is profoundly juvenile. Schoolyard shit, you know?
Nothing says “I am an enlightened, thoughtful artist” like a sculpture of a dog peeing on a symbol of female strength and fearlessness.
No further response is needed, because it makes the artist look like such an ass! It is petty AF. It is a negative, rather than positive, message. It is sexually suggestive towards a representation of a minor. It proposes that bullying and humiliation are the response to bold and progressive activism. I don’t know that the artist could have made himself look stupider if he tried.
Hold his beer. Typical of an entitled baby-man.
Hey, Alex – your skills suck. Intent, execution. It’s just bad.
I say we should modify this new statue to be more “girly”. Nothing would piss off a man-baby more than if we “modified” his statue and made it ours. I think everyone should bring some nail polish and just dump it on it. Pink, purple, the more girly the better. And if it has glitter in it, even better. Who’s with me!!!!
Hope it gets vandalized, not sorry. I get the original artist of the bull being upset, but he’s already taken legal action; this new statue is nothing but grossly derogatory.
Yeah the original artist has a point since the girl there changed the meaning of the bull he intended (it had changed on its own too but this is permanent). But I still would like the girl to stay. The pug is just incredibly childish.
I wish someone would create a ‘#shepersists’ sculpture and put it above Fearless Girls head. That would make the fragile male ego’s shatter.
As for this attention seeking artist – if he was a feminist he could have made his point another way. This just shows his contempt for women.
What the hell kind of asshat would think this was a good idea? I have no words, So disgusting..
All I go to from the guy was let me “man-splain” feminism and corporate America to you…eye roll
Maybe the artist will change his mind if he has a daughter or a niece. I think these two works together are actually amazing.
There are valid criticisms of Fearless Girl: it’s an advert commissioned by and investment fund. And the SHE it represents isn’t women, it’s that investment firm’s financial index fund represented by the NASDAQ ticker symbol SHE. Not as empowering as you think, right? The artists new piece – regardless of how aestheticslly flawed you think it is – isn’t pissing on women, its pissing in what the statue represents. Not what we take Fearless Girl to represent (at first I thought Fearless Girl was awesome for all the same reasons many of you do), but what it actually represents: Fearless Girl is an advert for a mega buck investment fund touting their wares.
Greg Fallis wrote a piece on this, I’ve pasted pertinent segments below along with a link to his full article:
…
Charging Bull was created by an artist, Arturo Di Modica, in response to the 1987 Stock Market crash. The thing weighs more than 7000 pounds, and cost Di Modica some US$350,000 of his own money. He had it trucked into the Financial District and set it up, completely without permission. It’s maybe the only significant work of guerrilla capitalist art in existence.
…
Unlike Di Modica’s work Charging Bull, Fearless Girl was commissioned. Commissioned not by an individual, but by an investment fund called State Street Global Advisors, which has assets in excess of US$2.4 trillion. That’s serious money. It was commissioned as part of an advertising campaign developed by McCann, a global advertising corporation. And it was commissioned to be presented on the first anniversary of State Street Global’s “Gender Diversity Index” fund, which has the following NASDAQ ticker symbol: SHE. And finally, along with Fearless Girl is a bronze plaque that reads:
Know the power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference.
Note it’s not She makes a difference, it’s SHE makes a difference. It’s not referring to the girl; it’s referring to the NASDAQ symbol. It’s not a work of guerrilla art; it’s an extremely clever advertising scheme.
You can read the full article here
https://gregfallis.com/2017/04/14/seriously-the-guy-has-a-point/
I love how he says the sculpture is “shitty on purpose”. Yeah right.
Well, that’s fair. Graceless, and bad art, but fair.
The pug is hideous–it looks like a pile of doo-doo. The bull is well executed, the girl is beautifully done, the other guy has no talent. How humiliating for him.