NRA settles legal battle with artist Anish Kapoor over 'abhorrent' video

Written by By Jack Guy, CNN

British artist Anish Kapoor is facing down the National Rifle Association, a US gun rights organization, in a legal row over one of his most famous sculptures.

The case relates to the unauthorized use of an image of Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" sculpture, known as "The Bean" to locals in Chicago where it sits in a park in the city's center.

In 2017 the large silver sculpture was featured in an NRA promotional video called "The Violence of Lies," which sparked a furious reaction from the artist.

"The NRA's nightmarish, intolerant, divisive vision perverts everything that Cloud Gate -- and America -- stands for," wrote Kapoor in an Instagram post.

Anish Kapoor with Chinese artist Ai Weiwei Credit: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

He later filed legal papers and now the gun rights organization has agreed to remove the image of the sculpture as part of an out-of-court settlement, the UK's Press Association news agency reports.

In a statement published Thursday, Kapoor said the "abhorrent" video "seeks to promote fear, hostility and division in American society."

"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," he said.

Kapoor also invited the NRA to donate $1 million to charities that help victims of gun violence in America.

The NRA has not yet responded to CNN's request for comment.

"Cloud Gate" is one of Kapoor's most famous works, alongside the ArcelorMittal Orbit, a tower in London's Olympic Park, which was built for the 2012 games, and "Marsyas," a giant red trumpet that was exhibited in the Tate Modern gallery in the British capital.

In 2015, Kapoor installed a piece called "Dirty Corner" at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris, and in 2016 he hit the headlines when he bought the exclusive rights to Vantablack, the "blackest black" pigment of paint.

This is not the first time that Kapoor has taken a public stand over his political beliefs.

In 2015, he teamed up with Chinese artist Ai Weiwei to organize a march in London to draw attention to the European refugee crisis.

"We ask for a human response, not one that's simply taking account of immigration questions, this is not a question of immigration, this is a question of our beings in a way, and recognizing their humanity," Kapoor told CNN at the time.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

from CNN.com - RSS Channel https://ift.tt/2RL05ak