NEW YORK, March 29, 2007
Holy Week Angst Over Naked Chocolate Jesus
Sculpture By Cosimo Cavallaro To Debut At Gallery In NYC
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Chocolate Jesus Not Tasteful?
A chocolate sculpture of Jesus unveiled during the Easter season has left a Catholic group infuriated. WCBS' John Slattery reports.
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"My Sweet Lord," a statue of Jesus without the traditional loincloth, sculpted by Cosimo Cavallaro and seen here at the Ranieriís Sculpture Casting studio in New York, March 29, 2007. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
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“This is one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever,” said Bill Donohue, head of the watchdog Catholic League. “It's not just the ugliness of the portrayal, but the timing — to choose Holy Week is astounding.”
The 6-foot sculpture by artist Cosimo Cavallaro was to debut Monday evening, the day after Palm Sunday and just four days before Roman Catholics mark the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. The final day of the exhibit at the Lab Gallery inside midtown Manhattan's Roger Smith Hotel was planned for Easter Sunday.
“The fact that they chose Holy Week shows this is calculated, and the timing is deliberate,” said Donohue, whose group represents 350,000 Catholics nationwide.
He called for an economic boycott of the hotel, which he described as “already morally bankrupt.”
The gallery's creative director, Matt Semler, said the Lab and the hotel were overrun with angry telephone calls and e-mails about the exhibit. Although he described Donohue's response as “a Catholic fatwa,” Semler said the gallery was considering its options amid the criticism.
“We're obviously surprised by the overwhelming response and offense people have taken,” said Semler, adding that the Holy Week timing was an unfortunate coincidence. “We are certainly in the process of trying to figure out what we're going to do next.”
The artwork was created from more than 200 pounds of milk chocolate, and it features Christ with his arms outstretched as if on an invisible cross. Unlike the typical religious portrayal of Christ, the Cavallaro creation does not include a loincloth.
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 five tons of pepper jack cheese on a Wyoming home and festooning a four-poster bed with 312 pounds of processed ham.
The Christ sculpture will be on display April 2-7 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., with a final showing from midnight to 1 a.m. on Easter Sunday. Its location on the first floor ensures attention from the thousands of passers-by in the busy neighborhood just north of Grand Central Terminal.
Semler was particularly upset by the call for a boycott of the hotel, which he said was not involved in the selection of “My Sweet Lord.”
It's not the first time that Donohue's group and the art world have been at odds. A painting of “The Holy Virgin Mary” that used a splash of elephant dung drew outrage in 1999.
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See all 147 CommentsThat is brilliant!!!
Posted by Petesis at 11:26 PM : Mar 29, 2007
It is not just Catholics that are offended. I am a Protestant and I find it insulting. You know, I suppose you could just say, well, artistic expression, just forget about--and if it was being displayed in October people might have a point. But come on, displayed during Holy Week and amounting to nothing less than mocking the crucifixion of Jesus Christ who 100s of millions view as their Savior. That is just wrong. We Christians put up with DAILY insults to our faith and generally don't say a word. This however, is pushing it too far. And for Petesis, I for one am sick, sick, sick of people like you, yes, you are right oh sage, the history of Christianity is not bloodless, but for every life that was wrongly taken their have been lives saved by the faith, hope and charity that Christianity brings. And just like Danish cartoonist should show a bit more thought before ridiculing the Prophet, so this artist should perhaps consider when he is displaying his work.
HAPPY EASTER, and remember, Jesus Christ died on a cross for you...When they asked Jesus how much He loved us, he said "this much" and then he stretched out his arms and died.
Verse 1. "The is no God! It was all a party joke that got out of control. Go back to living normal lives. Stop killing each other over it. Thank you and sorry about that."
End of the First book of RandalDS
If someone created a chocolate Mohammed...
... how much damage would be done by the rioting in the streets by the SO CALLED PEACEFUL RELIGION???
Posted by george2221 at 01:16 AM : Mar 30, 2007
True. Jesus was almost certainly not the blond haired blue eyed Caucasian depicted in all of the paintings and movies. Rather he was as middle-eastern Jewish as they came back then. Swarthy, dark (nearly black) skin and with all of the Arabic features we profile people with at airports when looking for terrorists. Jesus would have had to remove more then just his sandals to get on a plane in America today. They'd body search him for sure as a suspected terrorist.
However, I still would put Christianity in slightly higher esteem than Islam, just by the fact that I doubt we'll ever see major riots breaking out over this depiction of the prophet Jesus.
No religion is without blood on their hands at one time or another within their history.
Hopefully there will come a time when various religions will find peace with each other.
This is how much GOD LOVES US!!
Posted by singinrick at 01:08 AM : Mar 30, 2007
Excellent post! I agree with you...I don't see how anyone can turn down this gift!
They're all the same as God or Christ or Buddha or Confucius or Mohammad or the Son of Sam getting message from the Labrador retriever next door. If there really was a god he'd be laughing his as*s off at all of the stupid earthlings who run around killing in his name whatever they call him.
Nice learning to cut and paste to re-post your opinion over and over and over again. You do realize that in the blogging world that makes you look like a trolling idiot, don't you? Say it once with feeling, because re-posting the same post over and over shows you to be an idiot like singingrick.
There is only one God and His name is Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
The focus needs to be put on Jesus Christ. Not a "religion".
1 John 5:10:
10The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.
Posted by singinrick at 02:08 AM : Mar 30, 2007
All hail the one true god! Odin! Or wait...is it Jim Jones? Or wait a minute....it's David Koresh....or....or...I know! It's singingrick! All fall on your knees in front of the new Prophet! I can't wait for the publication of the first book of ricky! Where shall we put it? Between Numbers and Deuteronomy? Or maybe in the New Testament right after Revelations?
I know the perfect place for it!!!
IN THE TRASH!
Posted by MissUT2 at 02:48 AM : Mar 30, 2007
There is no god. Never has been, is not now and never will be. God is a myth.
Long as I have my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
I could go a hundred miles an hour
Long as I got the almighty power
Glued up there with my pair of fuzzy dice
{Refrain - repeat between verses}
Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through all trials and tribulations
We will travel every nation
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far
I don't care if it rains or snowses
Long as I got my plastic Moses
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through all trials and tribulations
We will travel every nation
Me and plastic Moses will go far
I don't care if it rains or freezes
As long as I've got my plastic Jesus
Glued to the dashboard of my car
You can buy Him phosphorescent
Glows in the dark, He's pink and pleasant
Take Him with you when you're travelling far
I don't care if it's dark or scary
Long as I have magnetic Mary
Ridin' on the dashboard of my car
I feel I'm protected amply
I've got the whole *** holy family
Riding on the dashboard of my car
You can buy a sweet Madonna
Dressed in rhinestones sitting on a
Pedestal of abalone shell
Goin' ninety, I'm not wary
'Cause I've got my virgin Mary
Guaranteeing I won't go to Hell
I don't care what they say, I'm gonna
Keep on prayin' to that pink Madonna
Melted to the dashboard of my car
Goin' ninety, I'm not wary
'Cause I've got my Virgin Mary
Guaranteeing I won't go to Hell
Posted by tucson23 at 03:27 AM : Mar 30, 2007
Your post deserves re-posting on EVERY BLOG AND FORUM!
Thank you!
Posted by tucson23 at 03:24 AM : Mar 30, 2007
Again, your posts are genious! It sums up everything that 'RandalDS' and I have been trying to portray on this board!
First, I'm a Southern Democrat, white, female, born-again Christian. I care very much about our troops who are getting killed and maimed every day and the families they leave behind. I care about those that are sick, lonely, homeless, and those that feel helpless. I care about children being abused, tortured, raped, molested, and neglected by those that should be their protectors & guardians. I care about animals and support those that protect and care for them. I care about the wealthy and the rich...some of them have worse problems than I do! I care about the people starving and dying around the world. Don't think for a minute that I don't pray...just because you don't SEE me. What kind of statement is that? How could you presume to know what's in my heart??
To further show your ignorance--we are not living in God's world--there goes that argument! This world belongs to Satan and his angels. They are free to roam this world to seek whom they may devour. God gave us a free will and allows us to make our own choices--choices we will have to live with for eternity. That's a long time!. If you choose not to follow Jesus Christ and you go to hell...remember, there is no interruption to torture, no time-out, no friends--only darkness and separation...and after a billion years, you will be no closer to the end...what a scary thought! Simply shouting that you don't believe in God does NOT alter the fact that these things will happen. If you and your ilk make yourselves feel better and more powerful by ridiculing the beliefs of others, have at it...I will be praying for you...
This is just another example of the laughable state of art today and the even more laughable stupidity of people like the gallery's "creative director", Matt Semler. What a pathetic, fatuous clod.
"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 five tons of pepper jack cheese on a Wyoming home and festooning a four-poster bed with 312 pounds of processed ham."
That's a hell of a lot of wasted food when people are starving. Does this man get paid for this?? I don't see the "art" in smearing cheese everywhere.
Also, Tucson23--I loved the comment that Jesus would be denounced as a dangerous Liberal today--Wow, was that right on!
Also, as an artist, Chocolate Jesus, art? In my opinion, not so much.
art?
We Christians put up with DAILY insults to our faith and generally don't say a word.
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And everyone else has to put up with all you xtians attacking our liberties, our lives, and our right to even exist on a DAILY basis. And you expect us to not fight back? Get real! Maybe you personally don't support the extremists among you who do those things, but are you publically denouncing them? Are you shouting them down at every opportunity and making it clear they are not the "norm" among xtians? Or do you just let them spew their hate and enmity, remaining silent while they do your "dirty work"?
This is ART. You can choose to like it or not. Art is supposed to create emotion in those who view it. If it offends you, so be it, move on.
They should have put this in New Orleans. Ray Nagin would have welcomed the Chocolate Jesus.
(Although the name "Cosimo" might be a problem -- makes people think of the Cosmo Kramer character on Seinfeld.)
Not according to the Bible. Jesus denied that he was God and that he was even good, much less perfect.
Jesus' words don't make any sense on any other interpretation:
Mark 10:18: "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good - except God alone."
Posted by ttinsly
Athene, the number one Goddess in Greek mythology, was (is ?) the most impressive deity of them all, as described in the lierary artisty of Homer.
At one point in the Odyssey, taking human form and wishing to impress a crowd of people, she walks over to the shore and prays loudly to Poseidon. As she's praying, being a Goddess, she secretly fulfills the prayer requests herself.
The crowd is impressed. "See how Poseidon loves him ! He is answering all his prayers immediately !"
Can't beat that for irony and humor.
Oh my.
I've just had an epiphany.
Jesus was a man. And Mohamed was a man. And Buddha was a man. You mean each one of them had one of those, you know, "things"?
No wonder everyone's so upset.
And that instead of a chocolate Easter bunny which has become the prime symbol of Easter, we now have a chocolate Jesus to replace it. I believe the artist was using irony to show how far off the mark we have gotten.
Unbelievable! Jesus has a pe-nis!?!?!? No! Say it isn't so! I suppose next you'll be claiming he also had an an-us and actually had to poo-poo like the rest of the human race.
How offensive. I'm insulted.
I often wonder if they really could identify it, and confirm it's authenticity, would Christians consider a pile of Jesus' poop to be a Holy Relic?
Or perhaps maybe his clay chamber pot? Makes one wonder.
As for the "artist"...well, it's not my cup 'o tea although it is hysterical to see all the angst it seems to be causing.
I can't wait to see all of the Christian hate mail. What fun!
"Catholics have no right to complain about anything. The horror of their history (and christianity in general) makes a chocolate jesus seem pretty harmless."
but every word of it is undeniably true. I like how christians get all offended but can never say it is not true. What does that say about what sheep they really are?
And as for feeling persecuted? Again they have convenient memory lapses. Their boy Dobson is already making declarations about how candidates must display "faith". But out of the other side of their mouths they will cry how they are not trying to force their beliefs on us. To he11 with all of them for if there was a he11 that is surely where the majority of them would land up.
Posted by Stone512
I believe that religion is just another form of atheism. (Monotheism is close to atheism -- only off by one in the number of deities. If you round down...)
That is no more nonsensical than to say that atheism is a form of religion, or that capitalism is a form of communism, or that baldness is a hairstyle.
And you people really are taking this guy seriously?
He's laughing himself silly over you! So am I.
"Things" ? You mean hairy backs ?
Sir, hairy backs are the sign of a real man.
I wouldn't be caught dead on the beach in summer with a smooth, hairless, effeminate looking back.
In fact I'm starting an organization for men cursed with bald backs. I'm going to call it "Back Hair Club for Men." We will supply topical ointments to stimulate manly back hair growth.
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