Cosimo Cavallaro (born 1961) is an

Italian-Canadian Italian Canadians ( it, italo-canadesi, french: italo-canadiens) comprise Canadians who have full or partial Italian heritage and Italians who migrated from Italy or reside in Canada. According to the 2021 Census of Canada, 1,546,390 Canadians ...

artist, filmmaker and sculptor. Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Quebec, Canada, Cavallaro is known for his numerous installation art pieces involving real cheese, including a series of photographs of the iconic 1960s model

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949) is an English model, actress, and singer, widely known by the nickname Twiggy. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging '60s in London. ...

draped in cheese and covering the inside of a New York City hotel room with melted cheese.

''My Sweet Lord''

In March 2007, the Lab Gallery at the

Roger Smith Hotel The Roger Smith Hotel is a family-run boutique hotel established in 1929, located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. History The Roger Smith was originally a hotel chain. The Roger Smith Corporation opened the first Roger Smith hotel in Stamf ...

in Manhattan announced that it was canceling its planned "My Sweet Lord" exhibition scheduled for

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

because the hotel had received death threats following a radio broadcast by Bill Donohue of the Catholic League. "My Sweet Lord" is a life-size and anatomically correct depiction of Jesus—with neither cross nor loincloth—in an attitude of crucifixion, and sculpted entirely from chocolate. The

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

in question is a new version of the original "My Sweet Lord," formed from 200 pounds of chocolate which had been damaged by rodents while it was in storage in Brooklyn. Cavallaro discarded the original piece and recast the sculpture. The new work is intended to be displayed with a group of chocolate saints, including St. Francis;

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North A ...

; Michael, Jude,

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

and

Fermin Fermin (also Firmin, from Latin ''Firminus''; Spanish ''Fermín'') was a legendary holy man and martyr, traditionally venerated as the co-patron saint of Navarre, Spain. His death may be associated with either the Decian persecution (250) or Dio ...

—all made by Cavallaro from sweet chocolate. Bill Donohue was quoted as describing this as "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever" and told Cavallaro in a live interview on

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

"you're lucky I'm not like the Taliban, because you would lose more than your head" . Donohue even accused him of lying about being a Roman Catholic, and even a Christian at all. Cavallaro won the 1990 Juno Award for Best Music Video for his video for Boomtown, by Canadian singer-songwriter Andrew Cash. He lives in New York City.

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Official website with large gallery of photosPhotograph of chocolate Jesus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavallaro, Cosimo 1961 births Living people Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian Roman Catholics Artists from Montreal Juno Award for Video of the Year winners Canadian music video directors Sculptors from Quebec 21st-century Canadian sculptors Canadian male sculptors 21st-century Canadian male artists

''My Sweet Lord''

See also

References

External links