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New York — Arturo Di Modica will unveil on the Shanghai Bund this week what he calls the “younger brother” of his iconic bronze charging bull statue on Wall Street.
The Italian-American artist will present the new bull to Shanghai in a ceremony on May 15 in broad daylight, a stark contrast to how he deposited the Wall Street bull in 1989. He had no permit and installed the now-famous statue in less than four minutes under the cover of night, armed only with a truck, a crane and the knowledge that the police passed every five minutes.
The new bull comes as Shanghai hosts the World Expo.
“This is my present to the people of Shanghai and China,” Di Modica told China Daily. “The bull means fortune, prosperity and an economy going up. Shanghai has new technology, new buildings and a new market. Why not redo the bull?”
The 5,000-pound bronze statue, commissioned by the Shanghai government, is not an exact replica of the Wall Street bull. It leans to the right instead of the left, features a rising corkscrew tail and is reddish in color.
The original bull was inspired by the financial crisis on Wall Street in 1987 and was meant to celebrate a return of market health and prosperity.
“The Shanghai bull is a piece that announces arrival,” said the artist’s lawyer, Joel Bernstein. “It’s a younger market.”
Reports indicating that China requested the bull be larger than its predecessor are false, Bernstein said. The Shanghai bull weighs exactly the same.
“For some reason people want to see it as a rivalry, but the truth is that the two bulls are in harmony pulling together,” Bernstein said.
“This is done for friendship and for prosperity,” Di Modica said. “The eyes of the world are on China now and this is to celebrate the friendship between two countries.”
The artist drew a lot of attention with the first bull in New York. The city initially impounded it, but a public outcry prompted its reinstallation on a six-month loan that later became permanent.
Tourists flock to the Wall Street bull, posing for photographs and occasionally climbing on it.
Di Modica said he hopes Chinese people interact with the Shanghai bull the same way.
“I want the Shanghai public to touch the piece, because that’s what brings people together,” Di Modica said. “I feel very strongly about that.”
The artist does most of his work at a studio that sits on a 10-hectare plot of land in Sicily.
Growing up in Sicily, Di Modica began carving, initially with wood, when he was 12 years old.
Di Modica and Bernstein visited Shanghai for the first time after Chinese government contacted the artist in Sicily. While visiting Shanghai, they were struck by the city’s similarities to New York. Di Modica cited Shanghai’s density, vitality and its architecture in particular.
“It was amazing to look at the mixed architecture,” he said. “There’s round, there’s square, there’s new, there’s old. You can see that Shanghai is growing fast. It’s really beautiful.”
The sculpture will stand in the Shanghai Bund park, and like its Wall Street counterpart, is intended to remain indefinitely. According to Shanghai urban planning statistics, 1 million people will pass by the statue each week, Bernstein said.
Di Modica said he will soon visit Hong Kong, where he has been commissioned to build a set of eight-meter high bronze doors for a private villa. He is also in the midst of preparations to open a school for sculptors at his Sicily studio in 2011, with two of about 60 spots reserved for Chinese students. He will hold a dinner during his trip in Shanghai to raise funds for scholarships.
“I want to do more work for China,” Di Modica said. “I’m trying to make something beautiful. Whatever time I have left to live, I want to do beautiful work all over the world.”
