For months, "Fearless Girl" has stood in defiance of a famous 11-foot bull statue in Manhattan. But its message of female empowerment was a bit dampened Monday. In protest of the 4-foot statue of a young girl, artist Alex Gardega erected a small statue of a dog urinating next to "Fearless Girl" on Wall Street around 9am Monday, reports the New York Post, which has photos. "I decided to build this dog and make it crappy to downgrade the statue, exactly how the girl is a downgrade on the bull," says Gardega. He says he's "pro-feminism" and has "nothing against the sculptor whatsoever," but he believes "Fearless Girl" is an affront to "Charging Bull" creator Arturo Di Modica, since it interferes with his original design.
Di Modica, who's suing the company responsible for the girl statue for trademark and copyright infringement, is likewise no fan of "Fearless Girl," though Gardega says he doesn't know Di Modica personally. Gardega adds that "Fearless Girl" deserves a place in the city, just not at its current location. That message wasn't clear to all who viewed the dog, variously dubbed "Sketchy Dog" and "Pissing Pug." The Post reports one female passerby kicked the statue, calling it an "a--hole move." Gardega tells NBC Chicago that he removed the dog after a few hours because "I didn't want to leave it to be taken and certainly had no rights to bolt it to the ground," but it left most people "amused or perplexed." (More New York City stories.)