Kirk, 31, who co-founded the grassroots organization Turning Point USA<\/a>, was shot dead on the campus of Utah Valley University<\/a> on September 10, 2025 while hosting an open air political debate with students.<\/p>\n Suspect Tyler Robinson, 23, was subsequently arrested and charged with Kirk\u2019s murder but has so far not entered a plea.<\/p>\n Speaking to The Guardian,<\/a> artist Sergio Furnari explained that he had spent his own money on crafting the figure of a seated Kirk brandishing a microphone out of steel and resin but had as yet had no luck selling it.<\/p>\n He also revealed that he had recently broken his foot by tripping over a roll of tape in his studio, leading him to ask: \u201cIs it cursed? Maybe. I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n Furnari, born in Italy, said he did not create the statue because he agreed with Kirk politically and disagreed with him on \u201ccertain issues.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t a fan of Charlie,\u201d he said. \u201cLike one thing that I couldn\u2019t stand about him while he was alive [was] when he was talking about Palestine. \u2018Oh no, Palestine doesn\u2019t exist.\u2019 I thought: \u2018Well, this guy must be out of his mind.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, he told the newspaper he had designed it to \u201cglorify and to exercise the First Amendment, this freedom of speech,\u201d as well as to express support for his widow Erika Kirk, to \u201cglorify democracy\u201d and to \u201ccommemorate a person.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy am I making the statue?\u201d Furnari said. \u201cThe same reason why Michelangelo did the Pieta, or Michelangelo did the David, or Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa. Why? Just to commemorate a moment, you know, a person.\u201d<\/p>\n An online fundraiser<\/a> the artist set up to recover his material costs had only raked in $8,225 as of Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cI was thinking that it was going to resonate with the world, with whoever, but man, people are strange out there,\u201d Furnari said. <\/p>\n \u201cMeaning like, nobody is really coming up with support, especially financial support. So far I\u2019ve spent all my money on this.<\/p>\n \u201cThings financially are a total, absolute nightmare. It\u2019s like wow. People are cheap, man. You know, people talk, talk \u2013 I know lots of people out there, and everybody\u2019s so cheap. <\/p>\n \u201cYou know, like, it\u2019s disgusting how cheap they are.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that, if there are still no takers, he intends to display his monument in Times Square on September 10, the one-year anniversary of Kirk\u2019s death, and to invite Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> to its unveiling.<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Charlie-Kirk.png\")
New York sculptor Sergio Furnari’s steel and resin Charlie Kirk statue on display in the Newsmax studio (Newsmax)<\/p>\n![\"Furnari](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Sergio-Furnari.png\")
Furnari said he was moved to make the statue by media coverage of Kirk\u2019s death last year (Newsmax)<\/p>\n