NYC is getting a swanky new steer to rival the famous Charging Bull on Wall Street and Miami’s newly-installed “Bitcoin Bull” courtesy of a $1 million bronze bull unveiled today at the Gansevoort Meatpacking hotel.
El Toro de Oro, a shimmering sculpture by Mexican artist Enrique Cabrera, debuts on Cinco de Mayo with support from the Mexican Consulate of New York–and Maxim.com has the exclusive first look.
The baller bull is the latest attraction in this nightlife-rich neighborhood known for bars, restaurants and historic hot spots like Boom Boom Room at the Standard Hotel, not to mention the Whitney Museum of American Art, and designer Diane von Furstenburg’s new “Little Island” with media mogul Barry Diller.
The glammy El Toro de Oro aims to offer “a visual representation of the Meatpacking District’s immense transformation over the last two decades, depicting a geometric bull atop a wooden butcher block-inspired base,” according to a release trumpeting the bronze bull.
“The wooden pedestal pays homage to the district’s gritty history of meatpackers with the rising gold bull from the block – representative of the neighborhood’s more recent life.”
Multidisciplinary sculptor Cabrera originally hails from Veracruz, Mexico, but you can find his work in the Museum Picasso de Antibes in France and the world-famous Louvre in Paris. Cabrera’s iconic skull sculpture titled Palmarius has even traveled 28 countries, from Dubai to Los Angeles.
“I would say an artist’s identity to themselves and to their craft is of the utmost importance,” Cabrera tells Maxim. “Once you have garnered a certain level of success and a spotlight shines on your work, you also get a platform to be an advocate for your beliefs which can include your culture and where you come from.”
“My work often involves a series of seven pieces each and replicates a theme in a variety of presentations,” he continues. “A bull just so happens to be my muse in my most recent works.”
As the eighth bull in this series. El Toro de Oro breaks Cabrera’s traditional approach. Tailor-made for the Meatpacking District, this latest work is also Cabrera’s only bull built to live outdoors. “While all of my projects have a magnificent creation story, this one is even more special to offer to the world as we slowly come out of a global pandemic,” Cabrera says of the sculpture’s resilience.
Pure bronze shines like megawatt gold, but as viewers come closer to El Toro de Oro they’ll notice its natural imperfections, created organically through interactions with the weather.
“Imperfections are actually the truest form of perfection,” Cabrera states. “In everyone’s life there are moments that things do not go right, but those are the parts of life that shape us. In El Toro de Oro the metal has its own life—you could go up to the piece and see something that might be a bit off, but that is the part that is the most beautiful.”
The sculpture’s grand reveal aligns with both a worldwide Mexican celebration and art history–and not just because El Toro de Oro joins Gansevoort Meatpacking’s impressive collection featuring works by Banksy, Richard Hambleton, and Hassan Hajjaj.
May 5 also marks the start of New York Art Week, and four art fairs—Independent, TEFAF New York, NADA New York, and the Future Fair. Furthermore, 2022 marked the first year the Whitney Museum’s hotly anticipated Biennial steps just outside the border to include Mexican artists in its roster.
“My work is a representation of me and who I am as an artist,” Cabrera says. “It is a great honor to be a representative of Mexico in the world and generate ambition in the Latino and Hispanic communities to bring them closer to their own craft. I want to help promote the arts to the masses. At the end of the day, art helps everyone be better human beings.”
Unlike the Whitney, however, El Toro de Oro is free and open to the public all hours of the day. “I want El Toro de Oro to be something that the people of New York and the world can connect with like they do with the Charging Bull of Wall Street,” the artist concludes. “The only difference is our bull has a crown.”
Catch El Toro de Oro and celebrate NYC’s Latinx heritage through Labor Day.
