N.Y. gallery cancels naked chocolate Jesus exhibit
How would the MSM cover “Chocolate Mohammed” at Ramadan?
The 485,460-Calorie Messiah: The six-foot tall, milk-chocolate Jesus Christ art catastrophe
Life-sized, anatomically correct, milk-chocolate Jesus debuts
Sweet Lord! This chocolate Jesus is no Easter treat say Catholics
Just in time for Easter, the high-calorie Heavenly Father will exhibit on April 1st at The Lab gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel in New York. Creative Director Matt Semler says, ‚Äö√Ñ√≤’The sign of any great artist is how their work affects the observer.” Looking at the Lord, viewers may be moved to muse about their own mortality: Death by chocolate? Hypertension? Or atherosclerosis? Perhaps Cavallaro’s intention is to warn the overzealous that when it comes to faith or food ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ be it Christ or Cadbury ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ indulgence should be avoided at all costs. Or maybe it’s simply for shock value ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ he wants us to stand there and salivate while suppressing the temptation to nibble on Christ’s toes.
The great thing about art is it’s highly subjective nature. Since there’s no recognized central authoritative body that passes judgement over what IS art and what most definitely IS NOT art, we’re left to our own individual tastes and standards. What to me might be the quintessential expression of an individual’s innate artistic vision might to you merely be a crucifix suspended in a Mason jar filled with the artist’s urine. No one can define what art is, but every last one of us can sure as Hell come up with a workable and authoritative definition of what it’s NOT. If you don’t believe me, trying taking a stroll through the Museum of Modern Art in New York sometime. I wanted to leave after the first floor we went to- the “highlight” of which was a white room with a single light that automatically flipped on and off every few seconds. That was it. My first reaction was that someone probably made a few thousand dollars obsessing over the installation of this piece. It was probably the piece de resistance of his or her career…and now it was in MoMA, when untold thousands marvelled at it six days a week. However, once we visited others floors at MoMA, I began to see works that fit my definition of “art”, and it turned out to be a very enjoyable experience.
Still…the white room? WTF???
This is part of the reason I’m so amused over “My Sweet Lord”. It’s often been said that the only bad publicity is no publicity, and it would seem that Cosimo Cavallaro has probably just guaranteed himself a productive and lucrative career as an artist. It’s just too bad that “My Sweet Lord” likely won’t see the light of day, what with former DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener Bill Donohue and his band of Catholic League trolls succeeding in cowing the gallery into submission. Chalk up another victory for the trolls, eh?
Personally, I don’t have a dog in this fight. Art is art. Or it’s not. It just depends on your point of view. What I do find interesting is that some of the same people (I won’t mentions names, but her initials are Michelle Malkin) who were foaming at the mouth when radical Muslims went ballistic over the depictions of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper are now outraged over “My Sweet Lord”. Hmm…it seems that the cynical, hypocritical exploitation of religious symbols for political ends is not limited to adherents of The Religion of Peace © .
I don’t know about all y’all, but I’ve grown tired of those media whores who seize on controversy as a means to sell more copy, more books, or to get themselves more face time on Fox News Channel. If Bill Donohue and Michelle Malkin are Christians, then I’m Clay Aiken. These two trolls care as much about Christianity or it’s symbols about as much as I do, and I don’t even believe in God. No, for them, it’s about seizing every available opportunity to advance their angry, hateful agenda and to bash Liberals.
I could frankly care less about their artistic or religious standards. What does gets my dander up, though, is that Malkin and Donohue honesty seem to feel that they have something positive to add to the discussion surrounding “My Sweet Lord”. All they’re really interested in doing is screaming loud and long enough to force their viewpoint upon people lacking the balls to stand up to them and tell them to get stuffed.
Man cannot live on bread alone, but if he were to consume Cosimo Cavallaro’s newest creation he could live off of Jesus — for approximately eight months. An oddball artist known for his “eclectic” forms of expression, Cavallaro’s latest contribution to culture is a six-foot tall, anatomically-correct milk-chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ. His confectionary Christ is made with more than 200 pounds of chocolate, containing approximately 480,000 calories. (The artistic endeavor titled, “My Sweet Lord,” can also give you 3,240 percent of the Vitamin A you need each day.)
Cavallaro is an artist fond of working with food; his most infamous installation up until now was his exhibition in 1999, which involved covering Room 114 of New York City’s Washington Jefferson Hotel in melted mozzarella cheese. If consumed, the junk food Jesus would fill you with 32,000 grams of fat, which is enough to insulate you for well over a year. This Jesus is sure to pack on the pounds, but is this art really food for thought…or just a publicity stunt passing as art?
Interesting isn’t it? The controversy surrounding the Mohammed cartoons was a “free speech” issue, while a similar controversy about “My Sweet Lord” is about disrespect for Christianity and it’s symbols. Why are radical Muslims “suppressing free speech” when knuckle-dragging troglodytes like Malkin and Donohue are all about “respecting Christianity”. Good Lord, you can but the hypocrisy with a chain saw….
In the end, what it’s really about is people like Michelle Malkin and Bill Donohue and their angry, hateful agendas. It’s less about respect for Christianity than about being able to force their beliefs and opinions on others. Is “My Sweet Lord” art? Who cares? Not when Michelle Malkin and Bill Donohue can spew their verbal vomit on every media outlet willing to give them some face time.
“My Sweet Lord” is less a political, religious, or artistic statement than a Cadbury ad gone horribly wrong…and a chance for an obscure, undistinguished artist to make a name for himself while a few Right-wing trolls pretend as if they actually care about Christianity. Mission accomplished….
