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(NewsNation) — A bronze-colored effigy of Charlie Kirk sits in a New York City art studio, holding a microphone and wearing a sweatshirt that says “FREEDOM.” For sculptor Sergio Furnari, the life-size monument was meant to commemorate the late conservative activist, but instead, it’s left him with a six-figure bill and no buyers.
Furnari says he spent $100,000 of his own money creating the piece out of steel and resin, which no one commissioned. Instead, he created the piece first, believing there would be demand for it once it was finished.
The Italian-born artist says he didn’t make the piece because he supported Kirk, who was shot and killed last year. He did it as a monument to free speech.
“I wasn’t a fan of Charlie,” Furnari told The Guardian. “Like, one thing that I couldn’t stand about him while he was alive [was] when he was talking about Palestine. ‘Oh no, Palestine doesn’t exist.’ I thought: ‘Well, this guy must be out of his mind.’”
However, Furnari says he was moved by Kirk’s murder, likening it to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lennon.
This isn’t Furnari’s first foray into public art. He’s created sculptures of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and a life-size installation of the iconic 1932 photograph “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper.”
Furnari is currently using an online fundraiser to try to recoup costs for making the statue and to send it on a U.S. tour. As of Tuesday evening, it has raised only $8,650 toward its $150,000 goal.
If there still are no takers, Furnari’s plan is to place the statue in Times Square on Sept. 10, the one-year anniversary of Kirk’s death.
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