Super Genius
Posts: 1,352 
Location: Calgary
Location: Calgary
April 1st, 2007, 03:55 PM
The artist simply created the sculpture for beauty. It was an expression of his faith and he had no idea that it would cause controversy. The medium the artist uses is food and he wanted to do something to express his faith and love for Jesus. People today just look for any possible reason they can to get offended.
The artist simply created the sculpture for beauty. It was an expression of his faith and he had no idea that it would cause controversy. The medium the artist uses is food and he wanted to do something to express his faith and love for Jesus. People today just look for any possible reason they can to get offended.
disturber of the peace
Posts: 1,546 
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...after growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...after growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
April 1st, 2007, 10:39 PM
Quoting s243a
Well, I think I have a reason to be offended. That's alot of chocolate that could have been in MY belly...but, OHHHHH NOOOO, he had to WASTE it all on a sculpture of jesus. Man oh man....blasphemy!
The artist simply created the sculpture for beauty. It was an expression of his faith and he had no idea that it would cause controversy. The medium the artist uses is food and he wanted to do something to express his faith and love for Jesus. People today just look for any possible reason they can to get offended.
Super Genius
Posts: 1,352
Location: Calgary
Location: Calgary
April 1st, 2007, 11:08 PM
Quoting snfu73
Well, atleast it wasn't sculpted out of frozen beer.
Well, I think I have a reason to be offended. That's alot of chocolate that could have been in MY belly...but, OHHHHH NOOOO, he had to WASTE it all on a sculpture of jesus. Man oh man....blasphemy!
Super Genius
Posts: 1,384
Location: London, Ont. Canada
Location: London, Ont. Canada
April 1st, 2007, 11:12 PM
Religious right, stifling freedom of speech and curtailing the arts. Real double speak here from the idol worshippers with there icons, relics and statues of some dead carpenter's mother. Worshipping the dessicated left testicle of saint whoever.
Quoting sanctus
N.Y. gallery cancels naked chocolate Jesus exhibit
By Daniel Trotta
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan art gallery canceled on Friday its Easter-season exhibit of a life-size chocolate sculpture depicting a naked Jesus, after an outcry by Roman Catholics.
The sculpture "My Sweet Lord" by Cosimo Cavallaro was to have been exhibited for two hours each day next week in a street-level window of the Roger Smith Lab Gallery in Midtown Manhattan.
The display had been scheduled to open on Monday, days ahead of Good Friday when Christians mark the crucifixion of Jesus. But protests including a call to boycott the affiliated Roger Smith Hotel forced the gallery to scrap the showing.
"Your response to the exhibit at the Lab Gallery is crystal clear and has brought to our attention the unintended reaction of you and other conscientious friends of ours to the exhibition of Cosimo Cavallaro," Roger Smith Hotel President James Knowles said in a statement addressed to "Dear Friends."
"We have caused the cancellation of the exhibition and wish to affirm the dignity and responsibility of the hotel in all its affairs," the statement said.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights had called for a boycott of the hotel, writing to 500 religious and secular organizations.
"This is an assault on Christians during Holy Week," said Kiera McCaffrey, director of communications for the league, which describes itself as the largest U.S. Catholic civil-rights group.
"They would never dare do something similar with a chocolate statue of the prophet Mohammad naked with his genitals exposed during Ramadan," she said before the cancellation.
The archbishop of New York called the sculpture "scandalous" and a "sickening display."
"This is something we will not forget," Cardinal Edward Egan said in a statement.
Matthew Semler, the artistic director of the gallery, said earlier that the hotel had no knowledge of what the gallery planned to show and was being unfairly targeted. Moreover, he said the work was not irreverent.
"It's intended as a meditation on the Holy Week," Semler said of the sculpture, which depicts Jesus as if on the cross. Easter Sunday, this year April 8, is celebrated as the day of Jesus' resurrection.
A photo of the piece on the artist's Web site (http://www.cosimocavallaro.com/) shows the work suspended in air.
New York is familiar with clashes between art and religion.
In 1999, then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani tried to withdraw a grant from the Brooklyn Museum of Art for a painting depicting the Virgin Mary as a black woman splattered with elephant dung adorned with cut-outs from pornographic magazines.
Current Mayor Michael Bloomberg took a different approach.
"If you want to give the guy some publicity, talk more about it, make a big fuss," Bloomberg told WABC radio. "If you want to really hurt him, don't pay attention."
© Reuters 2007
By Daniel Trotta
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan art gallery canceled on Friday its Easter-season exhibit of a life-size chocolate sculpture depicting a naked Jesus, after an outcry by Roman Catholics.
The sculpture "My Sweet Lord" by Cosimo Cavallaro was to have been exhibited for two hours each day next week in a street-level window of the Roger Smith Lab Gallery in Midtown Manhattan.
The display had been scheduled to open on Monday, days ahead of Good Friday when Christians mark the crucifixion of Jesus. But protests including a call to boycott the affiliated Roger Smith Hotel forced the gallery to scrap the showing.
"Your response to the exhibit at the Lab Gallery is crystal clear and has brought to our attention the unintended reaction of you and other conscientious friends of ours to the exhibition of Cosimo Cavallaro," Roger Smith Hotel President James Knowles said in a statement addressed to "Dear Friends."
"We have caused the cancellation of the exhibition and wish to affirm the dignity and responsibility of the hotel in all its affairs," the statement said.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights had called for a boycott of the hotel, writing to 500 religious and secular organizations.
"This is an assault on Christians during Holy Week," said Kiera McCaffrey, director of communications for the league, which describes itself as the largest U.S. Catholic civil-rights group.
"They would never dare do something similar with a chocolate statue of the prophet Mohammad naked with his genitals exposed during Ramadan," she said before the cancellation.
The archbishop of New York called the sculpture "scandalous" and a "sickening display."
"This is something we will not forget," Cardinal Edward Egan said in a statement.
Matthew Semler, the artistic director of the gallery, said earlier that the hotel had no knowledge of what the gallery planned to show and was being unfairly targeted. Moreover, he said the work was not irreverent.
"It's intended as a meditation on the Holy Week," Semler said of the sculpture, which depicts Jesus as if on the cross. Easter Sunday, this year April 8, is celebrated as the day of Jesus' resurrection.
A photo of the piece on the artist's Web site (http://www.cosimocavallaro.com/) shows the work suspended in air.
New York is familiar with clashes between art and religion.
In 1999, then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani tried to withdraw a grant from the Brooklyn Museum of Art for a painting depicting the Virgin Mary as a black woman splattered with elephant dung adorned with cut-outs from pornographic magazines.
Current Mayor Michael Bloomberg took a different approach.
"If you want to give the guy some publicity, talk more about it, make a big fuss," Bloomberg told WABC radio. "If you want to really hurt him, don't pay attention."
© Reuters 2007
Religious right, stifling freedom of speech and curtailing the arts. Real double speak here from the idol worshippers with there icons, relics and statues of some dead carpenter's mother. Worshipping the dessicated left testicle of saint whoever.
The Padre
Posts: 4,558
Location: Ontario
Location: Ontario
April 2nd, 2007, 03:53 AM
These are not idols, but representations of Sacred things. They can become idols, however, if the intention of the person is incorrect. In other words, if that person places more value on the statue than on what it represents, that is idolatry.
Quoting s243a
If Christians aren’t suppose to idolize objects then why are their so many statutes of Mary? Also why do people where a crucifix?
These are not idols, but representations of Sacred things. They can become idols, however, if the intention of the person is incorrect. In other words, if that person places more value on the statue than on what it represents, that is idolatry.
