Arturo Di Modica

May 30, 2017

Artist installs ‘Pissing Pug’ next to controversial ‘Fearless Girl’ statue in Wall Street standoff

Image: Gabriella Bass via @dawn_images via Instagram You can almost guarantee that if you put something out in public in NYC, it's going to attract more than just attention. As 6sqft previously reported, Kristen Visbal's “Fearless Girl” statue, installed by asset manager State Street Global Advisors and advertising firm McCann back in March to challenge sculptor Arturo Di Modica’s “Charging Bull” with her defiant gaze attracted controversy and selfies, seen as both an empowering statement and corporate drivel. According to the Post, NYC-based artist Alex Gardega’s Memorial Day weekend installation of "Pissing Pug"–a crudely rendered statue of a dog lifting its leg on the steadfast “Girl”–was his reaction to “corporate nonsense,” and that the fearless female “has nothing to do with feminism, and it is disrespect to the artist that made the bull."
New Yorkers are a tough crowd
March 21, 2017

Artist who created Wall Street’s ‘Charging Bull’ angered by ‘Fearless Girl’ statue

A post shared by Melanie Hunt (@melaniehunt1331) on Mar 7, 2017 at 4:50am PST The creator of the iconic Wall Street "Charging Bull” is snorting mad over the appearance of the bull's new companion, artist Kristen Visbal’s bronze "Fearless Girl” statue. 76-year-old Arturo di Modica, the artist who made the iconic sculpture that, like its young challenger, was installed in the wee hours, says the girl is “an advertising trick,” reports MarketWatch.
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July 29, 2016

Drivers Wanted (Again) for This $4.5M Soho ‘Ferrari’ Bachelor Pad

Anchoring a Soho building that began life as a horse stable for the fire department, this two-story live/work space at 554 Broome Street, just listed for $4.5 million, has quite a few stories to tell–though by now they may be familiar ones, as this instantly-recognizable property is no stranger to the market. First, there's the story of the late Italian count, prince and duke who was also the relative of two popes, a Ferrari dealer, avid car collector, and playboy. Roffredo Gaetani (full name: Roffredo Gaetani di Laurenzana dell’Aquila d’Aragona Lovatelli) was also frequent gossip column fodder in the 1990s because he and Ivana Trump (Donald's first wife) were a high-profile item for a time. Gaetani died in a car crash in 2005, and his estate sold the racy pad to then-bachelor brothers Arash and Daniel Gohari, who are known for the far less gossip-worthy founding of the Xerxes Group real estate investment company.
If these walls could talk...