Artist Installs 'Pissing Pug' Statue At Bowling Green To 'Downgrade' Fearless Girl

A NYC-based artist installed a small statue of a dog lifting its leg to "piss" on the Fearless Girl statue over Memorial Day weekend, successfully prolonging a months-long debate over the corporate-sponsored artwork's feminist messaging. Alex Gardega's "Pissing Pug" drew attention from passersby at Bowling Green on Monday, but by Tuesday it had already been removed from its Wall Street post. [See below for update.]

"This is corporate nonsense," Gardega told the NY Post, referring to Fearless Girl. “It has nothing to do with feminism, and it is disrespect to the artist that made the bull."

"I decided to build this dog and make it crappy to downgrade the statue, exactly how the girl is a downgrade on the bull," he added.

The 48-year-old Upper East Side artist told the tabloid that he is "pro-feminism"—a message that was lost on some.

Multi-trillion asset manager State Street Global Advisors and New York advertising firm McCann are behind artist Kristen Visbal's Fearless Girl installation, which appeared across from sculptor Arturo Di Modica's Charging Bull in early March accompanied by a plaque advertising State Street. A flood of empowering selfies ensued, while critics dismissed as toothless any rebuke of Wall Street sponsored by Wall Street itself.

State Street, which currently has three women on its 11-person board, coincided the Fearless Girl launch with a new push to invest in companies with women board members.

"Today, we are calling on companies to take concrete steps to increase gender diversity on their boards and have issued clear guidance to help them begin to take action," said Ron O'Hanley, CEO of State Street, at the time.

"We collaborated to conceive of this powerful symbol with universal appeal that is strong, yet not confrontational," Visbal told Gothamist in a recent interview.

Di Modica installed his bull statue outside the New York Stock Exchange without permission in 1989, and has bemoaned Fearless Girl since she appeared. He and his attorney, Normal Siegal, argue that SSGA and city officials violated Di Modica's copyright on the bull by incorporating his art in the Fearless Girl installation without permission.

"The message [of the bull] is for freedom in the world, peace, strength, power and love," Di Modica told reporters last Month. "It's a negative now. The girl is right in front saying, 'Now I'm here, what are you gonna do?'"

Mayor Bill de Blasio has agreed to let Fearless Girl stand at least through February 2018.

Gardega did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

[Update 11:00 a.m.]: Gardega told Gothamist by phone that he removed the statue himself on Monday afternoon, a few hours after the 9:00 a.m. installation. The paper mache statue, spray-painted bronze, cost $35 to make and was placed next to Fearless Girl, not bolted to the ground, according to the artist.

"There were a few people who got really upset by it," Gardega said. "A few people kicked it. One girl tried to throw it. I made the decision to take it away. I still have it. I'm fixing its broken leg right now."

"I wanted it to be, like, punk rock lo-fi as a statement," he added. As for Fearless Girl's proximity to the Charging Bull, "It's kind of like sticking something in front of Michelangelo's David."

Gardega also insisted that he dislikes the statue because of its corporate sponsorship. "I would respect this if it was done by a random artist standing up against Wall Street," he said, adding, "I'm a very positive person actually, and I don't like to see people get upset."

Gardega is planning to bring his statue back to the Fearless Girl site in the near future, he said, and eventually sell it for $10 on his website. One person offered $1,000 for it, which he declined, he said.

"I am going to make a bunch of pissing puppies," Gardega added. "They are going to be [sprayed with] gold paint. I'm going to stick puppies around Manhattan for free."