Kan man skapa konst med hjälp av ost? Svaret blir ja om man väljer att betrakta några av konstnären Cosimo Cavallaros skulpturer och installationer som konst, alla gör det dock inte. Cavallaro är en kanadensisk konstnär som skapat ett flertal konstverk med just ost som medium.

På hans hemsida kan den modige ta sig en titt på vad han åstadkommit och när det kommer till verk med ost så kan man välja att beskåda: Twiggy täckt med ost, The Cheese Room, The Cheese Chair, the Cheese Jacket och en hel bok om det hus i Wyoming som täcktes med ost både in- och utvändigt.

Hans mest kontroversiella verk är dock tillverkat av choklad nämligen den chokladstaty förställande en helnaken Jesus som heter My Sweet Lord. Inför påskveckan 2007 var den tänkt att ställas ut på the LAB gallery i New York. Religösa grupper lyckades dock med bedriften att få galleriet att plocka bort “chokladjesus” från utställningen. Bland annat efter att den kristne fundamentalisten Bill Donohue gått till attack i en radiosändning och bland annat yttrat följande till Cavallaro: “you’re lucky I’m not like the Taliban, because you would lose more than your head”. Konstverken av ost verkar ha haft lättare att accepteras med undantag av den oro som närboende till osthuset i Wyoming framförde angående invasion av råttor och obehaglig doft.

Novanta chili di cioccolato al latte. È la materia con la quale l’artista canadese di origine italiana Cosimo Cavallaro ha realizzato My Sweet Lord, una statua raffigurante Cristo a dimensioni reali, crocifisso su una croce invisibile.

Nel 2007, durante la settimana santa, l’opera sarebbe dovuta essere esposta nella Lab Gallery di New York City, ma il Roger Smith Hotel che ospita la galleria decise di sospendere l’esibizione, dopo le numerose proteste giunte da parte della Chiesa Cattolica newyorchese.

“Non vedo come due cose buone come il cioccolato da una parte e Gesù dall’altra, possano insieme diventare qualcosa di sbagliato” ha affermato Cavallaro. “Sono cristiano e cattolico, questo è il mio modo per avvicinarmi alla mia religione.” Cavallaro è celebre per le sue opere realizzate con il cibo e altri materiali “alternativi”, come formaggio, prosciutto, caramelle, topi morti e persino feci.

http://cosimocavallaro.com/

[ un'altra artista ad usare il cioccolato per un opera d'arte è stata Janine Antoni per Lick and Lather ]

Chokladjesus – av Cosimo Cavallaro 

Nej – det lider jag inte av – jag bara gillade ordet som dök upp i min skalle.

Ska googla och se om jag det har dykt upp i någon annans skalle också. 8 träffar – men egentligen bara på 4 platser. Najs – min skalle var med i begynnelsen – för en gångs skull.

Annars är jag alltid sist med det senaste. Julkrubban står kvar. Ska jag damma av den och låta den stå kvar – eller ska jag plocka ner den?

Svår fråga – nu drabbas jag av jultraumatisk stress – och funderar på att gå till parken och leta upp några kvistar att ta in och sätta färgranna fjädrar i.

Chokladjesus av Tom Waits

In an interesting case of censorship, a Holy Week exhibition of ”My Sweet Lord” (a sculpture by Montreal born artist Cosimo Cavallaro) was cancelled due to a number of complaints and even death threats.  Its also interesting because I just heard about it now, it must have recieved very little news coverage because ”one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever” seems like something that would stick in my head if I’d known about it.  I’m not exactly sure what all the fuss about, its pretty much the same as the sculpture of Jesus hanging over the alter in the church I used to attend.  The only differences are that (A) its made entirely of chocolate and (B) Jesus isn’t wearing a loin cloth.  So what is the cause of this uproar?  If it’s the chocolate than so what?  It’s just the medium.  Or is chocolate somehow unworthy of being molded into Jesus’ likeness?  If thats the case which medium is less blasphemous when it comes to painting Jesus.  Oil or acrylic?  If its the lack of loin cloth then once again, so what?  Jesus had a penis, whether the Christian right want to admit it or not (yeah, I know the Christian right are a little uneasy about the human body being seen by other humans).

Regardless of the source controversy, it makes me think of Tom Waits. 

GateHouse – To be fair, if you’re an artist, and you make an anatomically correct sculpture of Jesus Christ out of chocolate, you are:

1. Probably in some serious debt to the Hershey’s people
2. Probably not in danger of being invited to a lot of Easter services
3. Probably less an artist, more a fan of seeing your name on the Internets a lot

If you missed this one, congratulations; I expend a great deal of effort avoiding TV news broadcasts, but I confess that hearing the phrase “Chocolate Jesus” makes my head look at a TV whether I want it to or not (the same happens with pictures of Keira Knightley, although my head and I are pretty much in agreement on that one). Artist Cosimo Cavallaro has created 6-foot Jesus statue made out of milk chocolate (and called it “My Sweet Lord,” a title that he probably congratulated himself on for weeks) that was to be put on display this Holy Week in an art gallery attached to the Roger Smith Hotel in New York City. And so it was, for approximately 14 seconds before the gallery was inundated with angry callers and most of the world’s media sprinted Road Runner-style away from Iraq, Afghanistan and the 2007 Alberto Gonzales Make Stuff Up Festival to come cover the aftermath. The delicious, delicious aftermath.

The reaction to C-Jes was as swift as it was predictable: exhibit closes and everybody goes nuts, although this one was a little different when it was discovered that someone had started eating chocolate Jesus’ ears first.

But this is not the first time Cavallaro’s been involved in food-related goodness. According to The Media, he once “covered the interior of Room 114 of the Washington Jefferson hotel in New York with cheddar cheese. Two years later, Cavallaro sprayed cheese over the entire interior of a suburban house in Wyoming.” I mean, sure, it sounds weird, but what the stories don’t tell you is that the house was constructed entirely out of Triscuits.

But needless to say, the Catholic League, which never met an artist too insignificant to elevate to national prominence, fired up the Bat signal, although president Bill Donahue thankfully found time for a bizarre, uncomfortably inapplicable parallel:

“All those involved are lucky that angry Christians don’t react the way extremist Muslims do when they’re offended,” said Donahue, president of the Catholic League. If that name and that ability to not stay anywhere near on message sounds familiar, it’s because Donahue was the same do-unto-others sweetheart who said in 2004, “Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular … (Hollywood likes) to see the public square without nativity scenes. I like families. I like children. They like abortions.”

OK, first of all, the percentage of Hollywood that likes abortions cannot be higher than 60, maybe 70, but the key thing to remember here is this: chocolate Jesus is like a leprechaun, although much taller, and way tastier, and leprechauns probably don’t melt quite as quickly, but the point is that if you do not make a big hilarious and wholly entertaining stink about it, no one would have ever heard of Cosimo Cavallaro, except, of course, the guy whose house he coated in spray cheese. Each of the 970 Google news hits for the phrase “chocolate Jesus” – and I assure you, this is not a phrase I often find myself searching for – are entirely your fault. If you had kept your missalettes shut, chocolate Jesus would have been half-melted by now.

But, hey, it’s a good story. But I’m not sure what the outcome of this will be, although, if there is a God, He will send chocolate Jesus to the cheese house immediately, and then He’ll send me an giant fork.

The 485,460-Calorie Messiah
The six-foot tall, milk-chocolate Jesus Christ art catastrophe.

“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.)”

NPR Audio: Chocolate Jesus May Prompt Boycott. There are two sides to Easter. There’s the Christian holiday. And then there’s the bunny, the eggs and maybe some candy, too. A group called the Catholic League wants to boycott a New York hotel that is mixing the two sides by displaying a sculpture of Jesus made of chocolate. It’s described as “the 485,460-calorie Messiah.” People will be invited to eat it on Easter Sunday.

Chocolate Jesus
Written by: Kathleen Brennan and Tom Waits

Well, i don’t go to church on sunday
Don’t get on my knees to pray
Don’t memorize the books of the bible
I got my own special way

I know jesus loves me
Maybe just a little bit more
I fall down on my knees every sunday
At zerelda lee’s candy store

Well, it’s got to be a chocolate jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate jesus
Keep me satisfied

more here.

With Jesus, Do You Eat The Ears First?

Bread and Wine or the Chocolate kind? by meEE

People eat Jesus alot. They are Jesus eaters. They eat him in the form of a host, a wafer of unleavened bread every Sunday, and some more frequently than that. They also drink his blood in the form of a sip of wine. I did this growing up in the Catholic Religion. I never thought of myself as a Jesus eater but I was. I think I’ll copyright a slogan “I eat Jesus.”

The Catholic Church Dogma is that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ through transubstantiation. They are the only ones who claim this power that I know of. So when you eat the bread and drink the wine it is no longer just eating bread and drinking wine, you’re eating and drinking Jesus. So now you too have Jesus in you and that’s how you get Jesus in you, because Jesus can’t just get in you by himself for some reason. The by-products of the bread and wine, excuse me, the essence of the by-products, are still Jesus as far as I can tell. So when you go the the bathroom does Jesus come out your…well you know what I mean?

Oh, man, what vain attempts to reach for that which has always been unreachable, to grasp at that which is not graspable, meaning, I say meaning that which IS and has Always Been and Will Always Be. No need of seeking outside yourself, literally or figuratively(grasping). That’s why atheists can be actually closer to “What Is”, Truth, they have either forsaken appearances or never had to deal wih them in the first place. Although to be sure their are plenty of “seemings to be” to get caught up in for those of any persuasion.

Creation is One with it’s Creator and that Creation and Creator is only known through Love because it is Love. That’s why the Chocolate Jesus may be as close to the truth as bread and wine. More people love chocolate. Even though the Catholic Church claims this power of catering Jesus’s body, it’s theology is so messed up with good and evil that it really doesn’t make much sense. In so many ways the kingdom is kept at a “safe”distance, for another time and place, only after this life of trials and tribulations and eating Jesus every Sunday. Eating Jesus keeps you “online” but not “logged in”(yet) to that place that you want to be someday with all the good folks in the good place.

Are you not already there? Come on…

Update: At Crooks and Liars via Shakespeare’s Sister:
The Daily Donohue: The Violent Rantings of a lunatic bully over a Chocolate Jesus

me in the chocolatEE (yum)