The investment firm State Street Global Advisors commissioned Delaware-based artist Kristen Visbal to create the statue, and Visbal has told CNN Money the statue is about "girl power" and meant to remind the overwhelmingly male majority on Wall Street "that we are here, that we are heard, that we are permanent". The artist claimed that the Fearless Girl change the message of the bull and even derived its name there because of the Charging Bull's presence.
Di Modica installed the "Charging Bull" in front of the New York Stock Exchange in 1987.
Di Modica's bull has become a familiar icon since he gave it to the city in 1989.
For decades, Di Modica's bull stood alone just blocks from Wall Street, drawing thousands of visitors annually who came to marvel at the bronze statue and take selfies. Without Di Monica's statute, "Fearless Girl" does not have the same draw.
"It's really bad. She's there attacking the bull", said the 76-year-old artist.
My own opinion of the Fearless Girl is that she actually looks more like a symbol of parental neglect-what real-life mom or dad would let their daughter get that close to a charging bull? Di Modica and his attorneys announced at the news conference that he's challenging city officials who issued a permit for "Fearless Girl", a bronze statue that faces the bull sculpture on the same cobblestone island in the street, and has drawn worldwide attention.
The 50-inch girl stands fists on hips on a cobble stone plaza, eye-balling the 11-foot bull that has occupied the space in Manhattan's financial district for almost three decades.
The Charging Bull no longer carries a positive, optimistic message.
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State Street are the creators of the Gender Diversity Index SHE, which invests in companies that put women in top posts.
Siegel said they want the girl sculpture moved and for Di Modica to be awarded damages for the violation of his legal, statutory rights.
And still others avoided the sexism debate but said Di Modica had no case.
Fearless Girl, he suggested, could be relocated outside any number of NY firms with poor records on gender equality, or indeed in any other USA city.
"Fearless Girl" was installed on International Women's Day, on March 8.
Siegel said he filed several FOIL requests to discover if the Mayor's Office of Citywide Event Coordination and Management and Street Activity Permit Office had any dealings or communication with State Street before the statute went up.
A representative of State Street said that it had received the cease-and-desist letter and was reviewing it.
Siegel said he hopes the dispute can be resolved amicably but noted, "We never dismiss the possibility of litigation".
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