NEW YORK – “My Sweet Lord,” an anatomically correct milk chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ that infuriated Catholics before its April unveiling was canceled, returns Oct. 27 to a Chelsea art gallery, its creator said Tuesday. This time, artist Cosimo Cavallaro said he expects the public exhibit to proceed without a problem.
“There is nothing offensive about this,” Cavallaro said of his controversial confectionary work. “If my intentions were to offend, if I did do something wrong, I wouldn’t be doing this. But I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Cavallaro, who received death threats before the April show was canceled, said the vast majority of his mail was in support of his six-foot piece.
“I got a lot of positive mail from people in the Catholic Church, people studying theology, people in monasteries – all kinds of letters and e-mails of support,” he said.
The last show was criticized for its timing and its location. The exhibit, in a gallery visible to passers-by on a Manhattan street, was set to open one day after Palm Sunday and four days before Christians marked the crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday. The Catholic League, which led the charge against “My Sweet Lord” back then, said the change to the Proposition Gallery and the exhibition’s new opening date would keep it from calling for another shutdown of the sculpture’s showing.
“We don’t approve of the piece at all, but it’s not something we’re going to protest,” said Kiera McCaffrey, the league’s director of communications.