Chocolate Jesus sours Manhattan
The statue has been causing a stir in New York
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Saturday, 31, Mar 2007 08:30
The creator of a chocolate statue of Jesus might have guessed his creation could prove a little controversial.
Cosmic Cavallaro's sculpture caused so much outrage among Christian groups offended by the artwork that it had to be pulled from the New York art gallery where it was to be displayed.
Religious groups said they were especially offended because the statue was being aired over the Easter period - when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
Not content with making a chocolate statue, Cavallaro's piece further inflamed popular opinion by omitting the loincloth usually granted to Jesus by artists.
His exposed genitalia - combined with the statue's title, My Sweet Lord - proved too much for some.
"They would never dare do something similar with a chocolate statue of the Prophet Mohammed naked with his genitals exposed during Ramadan," Kiera McCaffrey of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights commented.
The decision to cut the statue from the exhibition was made by the managers of the Robert Smith hotel which housed the Manhattan gallery. They said in a statement that they wished "to affirm the dignity and responsibility of the hotel in all its affairs".
But the cancellation has prompted the resignation of the gallery's artistic director in an act of protest.