When In Manhattan...
with Oliver Peterson
Yummy Jesus
The week leading up to Easter is marked by Palm Sunday, which fell on
April Fools Day this year. You might be reading this on Good Friday,
or, if you waited to pick up the paper, Easter Sunday. For Christians,
this week is probably the holiest of the calendar year. People have
visited their churches, said their prayers and are now ready for the
big payoff. To celebrate the resurrection of Christ after he died nailed
to a cross, the faithful will don giant bonnets, paint eggs in pastel
colors, hunt for them, eat jellybeans and, if you’re in Manhattan,
watch the annual Easter Parade. These activities are usually the standard
operating procedure for celebrating the holidays, but as some recent
news indicated, baskets, bunnies and bonnets aren’t for everyone.
Most folks indulge in a Cadbury Cream Egg or a chocolate rabbit during
the holy week, but this year, an exhibition planned to begin on Palm
Sunday and end on Easter would have brought sweets to another level,
had it not been cancelled. Acclaimed food sculptor Cosimo Cavallaro
and New York’s LAB Gallery, housed in the Roger Smith Hotel, were
gearing up to display Cavallaro’s nude, anatomically correct Jesus
sculpture made from more than 200 pounds of milk chocolate. The fact
that “My Sweet Lord” was prepped to appear on our national
day of pranks appeared apropos to some, but the artist and gallery took
the piece quite seriously. When LAB released the news about their upcoming
show, Catholics nationwide expressed fury and outrage. Defending what
was seen as an attack on their faith, the pious immediately took action.
The delicious representation of the savior suspended as if crucified
– sans lioncloth – became the center of heated controversy.
It was only then, in response to a deluge of phone calls, e-mails and
a handful of death threats against the sculptor, that LAB and Cavallaro
were forced to consider their options. In the end, against the will
of gallery and artist, the Roger Smith Hotel shut the spectacle down.
On March 31, CNN reported that LAB’s creative director, Matt Semler,
resigned shortly after the decision. Semler attributed the cancellation
to “strong-arming from people who haven’t seen the show
[or] what we’re doing.” He went on to say that Catholics
“jumped to conclusions completely contrary to [LAB’s] intentions
(www.CNN.com).”
I’m not quite sure why Cardinal Egan described the sculpture as
“a sickening display,” or why the head of the Catholic League
watchdog group deemed it “one of the worst assaults on Christian
sensibilities ever.” Perhaps it was the nudity, but I’m
more inclined to believe the disgust was somehow tied into Jesus being
made of something edible and tasty. Maybe it’s because he was
brown? It could, in fact, be because he was nude and edible. Consider
for a moment what parts would be available to ingest. As Homer Simpson
once said, “Mmm… Sacrilicious.” The real question
is, who will get to eat chocolate Jesus Christ when his number is up?
I’m currently trying to cut my intake of sugar, but I’d
make an exception for that honorable snack – if, for nothing else
than to quote Homer in the most fitting of scenarios.
Debate over challenging art is nothing new in Gotham. In 1999, the Brooklyn
Museum of Art hosted a provocative exhibition of contemporary work called
“Sensation.” Presidential candidate and one-time Mayor Rudy
Giuliani threatened to cut museum funding due to the content of some
material in the show, which he found offensive. Rudy was particularly
bothered by a 1996 collage titled “The Holy Virgin Mary”
by Chris Ofili. The piece incorporated elephant dung in a striking image
of what could be chocolate Jesus’ mother. Despite the mayor’s
displeasure, the show saw light and, thanks to his crusade, attendance
was unprecedented. Unfortunately, LAB Gallery will be unable to reap
the rewards that bad publicity presents.
THE LAB (for installation and performance art) is a converted storefront
producing over 30 exhibitions annually. The fishbowl presentation of
the storefront is aimed at the seemingly infinite stream of midtown
foot traffic – an estimated 25,000 daily passersby. They are located
in the Roger Smith Hotel, on the corner of 47 Street and Lexington Avenue.
To send hate mail, death threats, or find out more, call (212) 755-1400
or log on to www.RogerSmith.com. Arrangements for tasting “My
Sweet Lord” are unavailable at this time.
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