Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” Image by Getty Images

By PJ Grisar December 10, 2018

The National Rifle Association has removed an image of Anish Kapoor’s sculpture, “Cloud Gate” from an advertisement that, according to the Genesis Award-winning artist, “perverts everything that ‘Cloud Gate’ — and America — stands for.” The removal follows a legal battle that began this summer The Guardian reports.

The one-minute ad titled “The Clenched Fist of Truth” was released last June and features NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch accusing an unnamed enemy of using “their media to assassinate real news” and “teach children that their president is another Hitler.” Kapoor’s sculpture is included among black and white images from urban centers intercut with Loesch’s monologue.

Kapoor responded to his artwork’s unwanted cameo in March. In a statement, released jointly with Everytown for Gun Safety, Kapoor wrote that the ad “plays to the basest and most primal impulses of paranoia, conflict and violence, and uses them in an effort to create a schism to justify its most regressive attitudes.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

At the time of the statement, Kapoor who holds the copyright for “Cloud Gate,” dismissed the possibility of pursuing legal action, saying it was “not worth the effort.”

However, this June, Kapoor filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the notoriously litigious NRA and urged people to “to stand up to the dark and aggressive forces in society.”

The Guardian reports that in a December 6 statement Kapoor revealed he had reached an out-of-court settlement and that his sculpture, which has stood since 2006 in Chicago’s Millennium Park, was being scrubbed from the video.

“They have now complied with our demand to remove the unauthorized 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 defense 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.”

PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture intern. He can be reached at [email protected].

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount