This video can be found here.
November 19, 2009
Artist Cosmo Cavallaro was highly criticised by Bill Donoghue after showing his piece, "My Sweet Lord" at the Roger Smith Hotel in New York City. The sculpture depicts an anatomically correct Christ molded from chocolate. The simple meaning of the piece is clear- Cavallaro wanted the viewer to be engulfed in the sense of sweetness, in not only sight and mind, but also in the sense of taste. While his artistic voice should be respected, one can easily speculate the connotations such a piece would present to the public. The piece may draw offense from Cavallaro's audience since there is a degredation involved in not only presenting Christ as completely nude, but displaying him as a sculpture to be eaten by the public. To some this may be quite a sacraligious act, but maybe the artist is actually making a statement on how commonly Christian images are degraded in culture on a day-to-day basis. Afterall, every Easter the stores sell chocolate crosses and profit immensely from this sacred religious holiday. But since public art, after all, is supposed to be made for the people viewing it, the piece would probably be more appropriate in a gallery where art critics would be more likely to pick up on these connotations and be less likely to grow offended, since they subjected themselves to that particular situation by willingly entering the establishment knowing the risk involved. On all counts, Bill Donoghue acted supremely immature and in effect invalidated his position's arguments. His statements were far more offensive than calm and cool Cavallaro could ever be in his artwork. I believe the line was officially and fully crossed at the point where Donoghue alienated the artist profession by professing that he had a "real job".
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