Anish Kapoor Calls Out the NRA For Using His Sculpture in a Political Ad
Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” Image by Getty Images
Anish Kapoor, a renowned sculptor of Indian-Jewish descent who won last year’s Genesis Prize, viciously denounced the National Rifle Association nearly a year after the organization used footage of his iconic Cloud Gate sculpture in a now-infamous political advertisement. According to the Washington Post, the sculpture appears briefly on screen in last year’s “clenched fist of truth” advertisement, while NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch rails against liberals for “[using] their ex-president to endorse the resistance.”
In his statement, released in collaboration with the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, Kapoor condemned “the NRA’s nightmarish, intolerant, divisive vision” that “perverts everything that Cloud Gate — and America — stands for.” Kapoor holds copyright over the use of Cloud Gate’s imagery, but he stated it was “not worth the effort” to sue the NRA, which he called “aggressively legalistic.”
Image by Getty Images
Kapoor argues that the ad “plays to the basest and most primal impulses of paranoia, conflict and violence.” The point of these scare-tactics, he said, was “to create a schism to justify its most regressive attitudes. Hidden here is a need to believe in a threatening ‘Other’ different from ourselves.”
Kapoor was born to a Hindu father and a Jewish mother in India, and considers himself Jewish. In 2017, he won the Genesis prize. He donated the $1 million reward to five NGOs that aid refugees.
Hello, fellow Forward reader! I’m Joel Brown, a Forward reader and supporter for more than 15 years, and currently the chair of the board of directors.
I’m an avid Forward reader because it ticks so many of my essential boxes: excellent journalism, Jewish focus and diverse viewpoints. In today’s political climate, what I most appreciate is the Forward’s independence — made possible by the generosity of its membership.
The Forward is committed to bringing you unbiased, nuanced Jewish news. From my position as board chair, I see an exciting future as we expand our position as the definitive independent voice of contemporary American Judaism.
That’s why I’m paying it Forward, by matching $36,000 of reader gifts. It’s an investment in the Forward’s newsroom, to continue telling the American Jewish story with truth and independence.
— Joel Brown, Forward board chair
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
