Apparently a statue of Christ on the cross made from 200 pounds of chocolate is mightily annoying the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
According to today's AP story, "This is one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever,” said Bill Donohue, head of the Catholic League, a watchdog group. “It’s not just the ugliness of the portrayal, but the timing — to choose Holy Week is astounding.”
Dubbed " My Sweet Lord," the piece is the work of Cosimo Cavallaro and is to be put on display this Monday at the Lab Gallery of Manhattan's Roger Smith Hotel. ( You can view the statue well on the artist's website. )
Again, according to AP, " Cavallaro, who was raised in Canada and Italy, is best known for his quirky work with food as art: Past efforts include repainting a Manhattan hotel room in melted mozzarella, spraying 5 tons of pepper jack cheese on a Wyoming home and festooning a four-poster bed with 312 pounds of processed ham." 
Wow!
Since the hotel has been besieged by angry phone calls, it's possible the gallery may not go ahead with plans to display the 6 foot tall, anatomically correct chocolate Christ.
Can't help but wonder what will happen to all that chocolate....
If you view the sculpture on the artist's website, you can see that it is an elegant work, too.
Methinks the official "religious" folks are mighty lacking not only in confidence, but also a sense of humor. Some of the most pithy sayings attributed to Jesus are heavy with sarcasm and humor.
Posted by: foodie | April 02, 2007 at 10:03 AM
That's really too bad. Here's a perfect example of (once again) censorship of intriguing religion related art. . . . and certainly chocolate is ahead of the piss in the famously reviled by jesse helms piece piss christ. . . . . (maybe not artistically. I amnot fit to judge that. I just prefer chocolate.)
Posted by: bibliochef | April 01, 2007 at 07:50 PM
The hotel caved and will not go on with the exhibition.
Posted by: foodie | March 31, 2007 at 09:28 PM