"My Sweet Lord," an anatomically correct milk chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ that infuriated Catholics before its April unveiling was canceled, returns Oct. 27 to a Chelsea art gallery, its creator said Tuesday. This time, artist Cosimo Cavallaro said he expects the public exhibit to proceed without a problem.
"There is nothing offensive about this," Cavallaro said of his controversial confectionary work. "If my intentions were to offend, if I did do something wrong, I wouldn't be doing this. But I didn't do anything wrong."
Cavallaro, who received death threats before the April show was canceled, said the vast majority of his mail was in support of his six-foot piece.
"I got a lot of positive mail from people in the Catholic Church, people studying theology, people in monasteries — all kinds of letters and e-mails of support," he said.
The last show was criticized for its timing and its location. The exhibit, in a gallery visible to passers-by on a Manhattan street, was set to open one day after Palm Sunday and four days before Christians marked the crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday.
The Catholic League, which led the charge against "My Sweet Lord" back then, said the change to the Proposition Gallery and the exhibition's new opening date would keep it from calling for another shutdown of the sculpture's showing.
"We don't approve of the piece at all, but it's not something we're going to protest," said Kiera McCaffrey, the league's director of communications. "This is much less an in-your-face assault on Christians, and it's not happening during Holy Week."
The exhibit, at the Proposition Gallery in Manhattan, will be accompanied by a set of chocolate Catholic icons created by Cavallaro, a group that includes the Virgin Mary and saints Francis, Augustine, Michael, Jude, Anthony and Fermin.
"After the cancellation of the show, it got me to look into the Catholic religion a little deeper," Cavallero said. "I started thinking about the saints, how they were ostracized for their beliefs and then canonized."
Cavallaro's work features Christ with outstretched arms, as though hanging from an invisible cross. Unlike traditional religious depictions of Christ, Cavallaro's Jesus lacks a loincloth.
The sculpture is actually a new version of "My Sweet Lord," created with 200 pounds of chocolate over three days. The original was stored in a Brooklyn facility where mice nibbled away at its hands, ears, nose and feet, forcing Cavallaro to toss the original and recast the sculpture.
"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams
Good grief! Is he trying to equate himself to the saints "being ostracized ...and then canonized?" Looks like its ONLY saving grace is that it is not quite as disgusting as Serrano's "Piss Christ"
"A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders." Larry Elder
Phil Covone said: What else would we expect from a dark, lost, depraved, perverse and dying world? Much more of the same, or worse.
Phil,
We haven't seen anything yet. It is only going to get worse, not better. We have already been told what to expect, and what to look for.
You are right John, and if we look closely, many of those things are evident today. I'm afraid many who call themselves "christians" have been bilded and deceived by Satan already.
Super, I like your statement at the bottom. If only this could be done! We should draft all non-patriot senators and congressmen who are busily thinking up new ways to sell us out!
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men and women do nothing!