NRA removes image of Anish Kapoor sculpture from advert

British artist accused group of seeking to ‘whip up fear’, and sued over its use of image

Frances Perraudin
Thu 6 Dec 2018 12.53 GMT Last modified on Thu 6 Dec 2018 13.15 GMT

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 one-minute 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.”

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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. ...

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