diegograndi/iStock(NEW YORK) — An upstate New York art foundry has been hired to repair the “Charging Bull” sculpture in Lower Manhattan after it was smashed and cut open by a man with a metal banjo.
Polich Tallix, a fine art foundry located in Rock Tavern, is expected to begin the repairs at the end of the month when the sculpture’s artist, Arturo Di Modica, returns from Sicily, Arthur Piccolo, the chairman of the Bowling Green Association, told ABC News on Tuesday. Di Modica is a client of Polich Tallix.
The bull was left with an 8-inch-long hole in its right horn and several scratch marks after the attack on Saturday.
The estimated cost to repair the structure is between $10,000 and $15,000, the highest amount for a fix in the statue’s history, Piccolo said.
“The most we’ve had is an occasional marking,” Piccolo said. “This is the first serious vandalism that the bull has experienced in 30 years.”
He expects that someone from Polich Tallix will come down to see the damage this week.
While Di Modica is disappointed by the damage, he doesn’t anticipate it will take long to repair.
The bull, a famed 7,100-pound bronze statue, has made the Bowling Green park its home since Dec. 20, 1989, when it was installed as a work of guerrilla art.
Piccolo expects all repairs and renovations on the statue to be done in October, well before the 30th anniversary celebration.
Tevon Varlack, 42, has been arrested and charged in the incident, a spokesman for the New York City Police Department told ABC News.
Varlack was allegedly seen “striking the ‘Charging Bull’ statue with a metal object,” later discovered to be a banjo made of metal with sharpened edges, the spokesman said.
Varlack, from Houston, and his attorney could not be reached by ABC News.
The news of Polich Tallix taking on the repairs was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
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