Artist behind Chicago’s ‘Bean’ sues NRA for using sculpture in promo 

The artist behind “The Bean” sculpture in downtown Chicago has filed a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association (NRA) for showcasing his work in one of the organization’s promotional videos.

Anish Kapoor, who designed the reflective, bean-shaped “Cloud Gate,” filed the suit Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

In his complaint, Kapoor demands the pro-gun group stop playing a video that features his sculpture, Curbed Chicago reported Wednesday.

Kapoor is seeking $150,000 in statutory damages per copyright infringement, as well as attorney fees and any profits the NRA gained from the video.

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The NRA’s controversial 2017 advertisement, “The Clenched Fist of Truth,” stars spokeswoman Dana Loesch and features a montage of several U.S. monuments alongside violent protests. In the clip, Loesch encourages gun rights advocates to fight the “violence of lies” that she said stems from Democrats and the media.

The NRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

Kapoor wrote an open letter to the NRA about the advertisement in March, saying he was “disgusted” to see his work involved.

“It 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,” Kapoor wrote, and gives “voice to xenophobia anxiety.” Kapoor, a British sculptor, was born in India.

“The NRA’s nightmarish, intolerant, divisive vision perverts everything that ‘Cloud Gate’ — and America — stands for. Art must stand clear in its mission to recognise the dignity and humanity of all, irrespective of creed or racial origin,” he wrote.

Kapoor also praised the efforts of gun control nonprofit, Everytown for Gun Safety.

Kapoor registered “Cloud Gate” with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2006 and previously asked the NRA to remove the image, Curbed Chicago reported.