Does an artist have the legal right to protect the intangible messages of their artwork? That’s the question facing Arturo Di Modica, creator of Wall Street’s iconic bronze Charging Bull, which last month was joined by another, more diminutive bronze called Fearless Girl. Di Modica argues the addition—which stares down his bull—changes the message of his work and violates his legal rights.

On this episode, we’re joined by two art lawyers—Yayoi Shionoiri, Senior Counsel at Artsy, and Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, professor and founder of New York’s Art & Law Program—to discuss the U.S. law at the heart of Di Modica’s claim. That’s the Visual Artist Rights Act (VARA), which gives artists certain rights over their work they no longer own. Though perhaps not a household name, VARA is a singular law that has had an outsized influence on the art world since its passage in 1990.

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