Bitter-tasting Chocolate Jesus

Posted by Jennifer Yap Apr 3, 2007

The story broke on April 1 and I was wary because… well, it was April Fool’s Day for one, and people getting all worked up about a chocolate Jesus did seem a little far-fetched. Suspecting an elaborate media hoax, I hung back and dropped the ball on this.

My apologies.

Montreal-born, US-based Cosimo Cavallaro, known for highly visceral work and quirky use of food items (such as spraying an entire house inside and out with mozzarella cheese and piling sliced ham into a bed), has stirred up a storm of protest with a life-size milk chocolate sculpture of Jesus.

In a twist worthy of South Park, the naked crucified Christ sans cross is being hidden in a refrigerated truck in an undisclosed location. This, after a torrent of complaints and death threats were issued by Christian groups citing nudity and disrespect for Christianity.

Titled My Sweet Lord, the chocolate Jesus was slated for display from today, Tuesday, through Easter Sunday in the Lab Gallery located in Manhattan's Roger Smith Hotel. The hotel has decided to cancel and the gallery’s creative director, Matt Semler, has resigned – I presume, in protest. Meanwhile, Cavallaro claims to have received numerous offers to either exhibit or buy the piece.

If Cavallaro wants notoriety, he’s got it, but I think he was after something a little more thoughtful.

Here are my two cents, for whatever they’re worth. I hope this does not bring a chocolate fondue upon my head. Here goes…

Loincloths are themselves an act of artistic license, not biblical fact. I daresay no Roman foot soldier in the midst of crucifying his charge is going to pause to make sure that there’s a loincloth in place. If I remember correctly, soldiers were casting lots for Jesus’ clothes, so chances are pretty good that he was naked. Executions are messy affairs and if it’s alright to show the marks of violence, blood and gore on the body of Christ, why not nudity? Also, if crucifixion is about humiliating the prisoner, wouldn’t being stripped naked add to this and therefore reinforce the poignancy of Jesus’ human side and his grace in tolerating this abuse?

Next, chocolate is a relatively recent addition to Easter. Traditionally, real eggs were decorated and exchanged – and this practice still persists in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Europeans made hollow cardboard Easter eggs to hold gifts and treats. Faberge eggs evolved for the highbrow and chocolate eggs for the relatively well-to-do as European tastes accepted chocolate as a sweet. Besides being a child of commercial opportunism by German and French confectioners, there is no historical or religious place for chocolate in Easter, nor for bunnies and chicks. Easter is a celebration of resurrection and re-birth before the divine – the crux of Christianity. As such, I think Cavallaro’s piece speaks to the commercial sugar-coating of Easter as it is commonly celebrated now; what have we done to Easter, and by extension, what have we done to Christ?

It’s too bad that the reigning debate at this point in time is about religious sensitivity, propriety and censorship when it should be about love for humanity, redemption, divine grace, and the old tension between God and Mammon.

We are in Holy Week after all.

Postscript:

After (literally) sleeping on it overnight with a head full of flu-induced weird dreams, I think that if Cavallaro had *really* wanted to get people's goat, he could have wrapped My Sweet Lord in thin silver foil, inserted a ticker-tape style slip of wax paper that read "Christ" and re-named the piece Kiss Christ, thereby spoofing both the popular chocolate and referencing American photographer Andres Serrano's controversial 1989 photo. Then things would really hop.

For a more gentle, compassionate view, read Mary Rayme's article Chocolate Obama Jesus on controversial Jesus sculptures at Easter time.