NRA removes image of Anish Kapoor sculpture from advert
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has removed an image of an Anish Kapoor sculpture from one of its adverts after the artist accused it of seeking to “whip up fear and hate”.
The British sculptor had criticised the organisation after it used the image of his Cloud Gate work in Chicago’s Millennium Park in a provocative oneminute video called The Clenched Fist of Truth, released in August last year.
After the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in March, Kapoor published an open letter accusing the NRA – which lobbies to allow widespread gun ownership in America – of playing to “the basest and most primal impulses of paranoia, conflict and violence”.
“I am disgusted to see my work — in truth the sculpture of the people of Chicago — used by the NRA to promote their vile message,” he said. “Recent shootings in Florida, Las Vegas, Texas, and a number of other towns and cities, make it more urgent than ever that this organisation is held to account for its ongoing campaign of fear and hate in American society.”
After the NRA failed to remove the image, Kapoor filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in June and urged people to “to stand up to the dark and aggressive forces in society”.
In a statement on Thursday, Kapoor said he had reached an out-of-court settlement and that the image of his work had been removed from the video. “They have now complied with our demand to remove the unauthorised image of my sculpture Cloud Gate from their abhorrent video, which seeks to promote fear, hostility and division in American society,” he said.
“Their bullying and intimidation has not succeeded. This is a victory not just in defence of the copyright of my work, but it is also a declaration that we stand with those who oppose gun violence in America and elsewhere.”
Cloud Gate, known locally as “the Bean”, was installed in Millennium Park in 2006 and has become a tourist attraction.
The NRA video included a brief clip of the sculpture among other images designed to represent liberal America. The film’s voiceover warns against an undefined enemy who “use their media to assassinate real news”, “teach children that their president is another Hitler” and encourage people to “scream racism and sexism and xenophobia and homophobia”.