What started as an illegal piece of street art has become one of New York City’s most iconic landmarks
In 1987, after a massive stock market crash the people of the United States were left feeling hopeless and feared the future. Arturo Di Modica wanted to change citizens gloomy visions for the future, and used his artistic talents, as well as over $360,000 to have a 7,100 pound charging bull made of bronze.
Arturo worked on the now world-famous Charging Bull for over two years at his studio on Crosby Street in the Soho district of Manhattan.
It was his most ambitious and massive work of sculpture to date, so large that the Bull had to be cast in separate bronze pieces and then laboriously welded together and hand finished. Once completed at the end of 1989, it weighed over three and a half tons and measured 18 feet long.
In the early morning hours of Friday, December 15, 1989, Arturo with a few friends dropped the Charging Bull on Broad Street right in front of the New York Stock Exchange. The previous night he’d gone to the location with a stopwatch to check – noting that every 5 – 6 minutes the police patrol would come by, so he saw he’d have to drop the bull and get away within 4 ½ minutes.
But on the actual morning of the operation, Arturo and his crew discovered that during the day the NYSE had installed a large Christmas tree, blocking the way. Arturo couldn’t even turn the truck around. So on the spot Arturo decided to place the Charging Bull right under the tree, as a gigantic Christmas present for the City and the World.
This act of “guerrilla art” created a frenzy in lower Manhattan.
The next day the Charging Bull was news all around the world, and enormous crowds of excited onlookers and media surrounded the mysterious sculpture that had come from no one knew where.
Since this was a blatant act of illegal street art by Di Modica the government was not to happy about having to remove the 3.5 ton sculpture. Transporting a three and a half ton bronze sculpture was no easy matter. It took the NYSE, who was in charge of it’s removal, all day to find a truck big enough to remove it but within 24 hours it was impounded.
This is where the story gets interesting.
After public outcry, Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, Mayor Ed Koch and Arturo Piccolo of the Bowling Green Association teamed up and ‘temporarily’ placed the bull back on Wall Street in Bowling Green Park near Wall Street.
As soon as the sculpture was set up at Bowling Green, it became “an instant hit” and it hasn’t been relocated since.
One of the city’s most photographed artworks, it has become a tourist destination in the Financial District with Adrian Benepe, the New York City parks commissioner, saying in 2004, “It’s become one of the most visited, most photographed and perhaps most loved and recognized statues in the city of New York. I would say it’s right up there with the Statue of Liberty.”
An illegal piece of street art that has become so fully embraced by the city that it is now under 24 hour police protection.
Image source: photo.ua / Shutterstock.com