A Truck Driver Attacked Wall Street’s Iconic Charging Bull Statue With a Spiked Banjo, Leaving It With a Huge Gash

New York City’s bronze
Charging Bull, a symbol of Wall Street power, was damaged
yesterday when a man repeatedly attacked it with a metal banjo
while cursing President Trump’s name. 

Onlookers watched with cell
phones aloft as the man repeatedly bashed the sculpture. They were
unsure whether the act was a work of performance art or simply
violent vandalism. In the end, the bull was left with a six-inch
gash and several scratches, according to reports.

Shortly after the incident,
authorities arrested Tevon Varlack, a 42-year-old truck driver from
Dallas, charging him with criminal mischief, disorderly conduct,
and criminal possession of a
weapon (which, it seems, is the banjo, which was metal and had
sharp edges). After spending
the night in jail, Varlack appeared for arraignment in Manhattan
Criminal Court on Sunday. 

Varlack, wearing a white t-shirt
with the words “Let Us Not Forget The Ten Commandments,” gave no
motive for his actions. (The shirt may be a reference to Moses’s
anger at the Israelites for worshipping a golden calf.) Varlack was
released without bail and is due back in court on October
16. Judge Althea Drysdale ordered him to stay away from city
landmarks in the meantime and warned him, “Do not go back and visit
the bull.”

BREAKING: Photos show man as he defaced
iconic charging bull statue in Financial District. @PIX11News #NewYork #NYC pic.twitter.com/iIzQ9tVQVs

— Cristian Benavides (@cbenavidesTV) September 7, 2019

The three-and-a-half-ton bronze
bull has stood on Broadway outside the New York Stock Exchange
since December 1989
when its creator, sculptor Arturo Di Modica, illegally installed
the piece as a political gesture. Modica intended for the sculpture
to be a beacon of optimism in the wake of the Black Monday stock
market crash in 1987. Today, it’s a popular tourist destination for
selfie-takers and a symbol of Wall Street bravado. 

“The guy wanted publicity and he
did it for publicity,” Di Modica told the New York
Post of the
vandalism. “He knew he was going to be arrested and he knew he was
going to be in the paper.”

Di Modica estimated that the
damage would cost between $10,000 and $15,000 to repair. Fernando
Luis Alvarez, a Connecticut-based gallerist who represents the
artist, plans to drive to New York to inspect the work in person.
He suggested to the New York
Times that
restoration would likely run at a higher cost, somewhere between
$75,000 and $150,000.

Attorneys from Manhattan
Criminal Court told the Post that they would seek
financial restitution from the attacker. 

Fed up with Trump’s bull, vandal from Dallas
took Wall Street statue by the horns, witnesses say https://t.co/gCc7JSQDt9 pic.twitter.com/UsQn2XhcVo

— Matt Peterson (@tweeterson) September 8, 2019

The bull has been vandalized before. In 2008 and 2017, it was
splattered with blue paint. And in 2010, the artist Jessie
Hemmons covered the sculpture with pink crochet.

The post A Truck Driver Attacked Wall Street’s Iconic
Charging Bull Statue With a Spiked Banjo, Leaving It With a Huge
Gash appeared first on artnet News.