Arturo di Modica, Sculptor of World’s Most Famous Bull, Passes Away at 80

By: Andrew Giangola

PUEBLO, Colo. – Arturo di Modica, the artist who in an audacious act of guerilla art created what is perhaps the most photographed sculpture history – a gigantic powerful charging bull that became synonymous with Wall Street – passed away in his sleep in his birthplace of Vittorio, Sicily, on Friday. He had battled cancer for several years and was 80.

The artist who created “Charging Bull” and secretly dropped him off on Wall Street in the dead of a cold December night in 1989, had arrived in New York from Sicily a decade and a half earlier, virtually penniless.

Arturo’s talents were so prodigious, he’d been called “a young Michelangelo” of marble sculpture.

Following the infamous 1987 Black Monday stock market crash, grateful for his opportunities in New York, di Modica began breathing life into an epic symbol of inspiration — a bull sculpture that would represent power, strength, determination, optimism and confidence.

Di Modica drew on his experience in the ever-resilient city. When New Yorkers get knocked down, they get back up.

When things get bad, they work harder, get stronger, bear down and make it better.

That was exactly what di Modica wanted to inspire and immortalize in 7,000 pounds of brass bovine bravado.

He worked on the sculpture for two years, starting with clay and metal, pouring $360,000 of his own money into his bull. A foundry across the East River in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, cast the bull in bronze.

And then on December 15, 1989, Arturo gathered a group of friends, and in the Manhattan darkness— without permits or permission — hauled the 11’ by 16’ bull from his SoHo studio down to the New York Stock Exchange.

He placed his gift under a Christmas tree.

The next day, the illegal statue was hauled away.

But for the soulless bureaucrats, it was too late. New Yorkers had already fallen for the majestically mighty beast.

Arthur Piccolo, Chairman of the Bowling Green Association, took note. He arranged for the statue to be brought a few blocks west of the stock exchange to North Bowling Green Plaza, the site of a cattle market in the mid 1600’s that has been its home for the past 30 years.

“Charging Bull represents the strength of America and optimism for its future; it’s for all of America,” Piccolo said. “The bull makes people think of strength and power, but it is also an animal everyone adores. They touch it. They photograph it. For children, it’s a magical creature they’re endlessly drawn to.”

Charging Bull has delighted millions of visitors. Even though di Modica is gone, it will remain as an irreplaceable part of the cityscape as the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building.

Wherever PBR goes, the sport honors someone who exhibits cowboy values such as grit, determination, courage, respect, generosity and kindness.

Di Modica’s daring gift, the generous and uplifting spirit in which it was created, its rebel-Robin Hoodish dead-of-night delivery, and really everything Charging Bull represents feels ripped from PBR’s “Be Cowboy” brief.

For this, the Sicilian artist — who became an American citizen— was acknowledged on the dirt of Madison Square Garden when the sport opened its 2020 season in January of that year as a “Be Cowboy” honoree.

“I have always appreciated those who understand and value the power and the majesty of bulls,” di Modica said. “In my entire career as a sculptor, nothing has given me more pleasure than creating Charging Bull.”

And for fans of bulls, and PBR itself, is another gift from Arturo.

He created a mini-Charging Bull trophy for the event winner in Gotham City.

While di Modica is world famous for his connection to a stunning bull, he’d never seen the world’s top bucking bulls in action.

Even though he was battling cancer and wasn’t feeling well, di Modica made it to the Garden in January, 2020. In the back pens, it was hard to determine if the then-79 year-old artist was more excited to meet PBR’s extraordinary bull athletes or the badly mismatched cowboys attempting to ride them.

“I have a deep appreciation for the talented athletes who ride bulls,” he said. “They experience and embody the power of bulls in ways I have tried to express in Charging Bull.”

As legend has it, di Modica had to run away from home in Sicily and hop a steam train to Florence to defy his father’s wishes and become sculptor.

Arturo had a dream. Nothing could stop him from its pursuit.

He went for it. No compromises. No excuses. No regrets.

When Joao Ricardo Veira, winner of the Buck Off at the Garden hoisted Charging Bull over his head, right about where Frazier broke Ali’s jaw, where the Pope John Paul II led Mass, where Marilyn sang Happy Birthday to JFK, he had a lot in common with the defiant, purposeful artist who created that very special trophy, a small representation of a giant gift to New Yorkers that will live forever.

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