NEW YORK – Offers to buy or exhibit a nude chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ have poured in since the piece caused a stir and lost its gallery space in New York, said the artist who made it.
But artist Cosimo Cavallaro said Saturday he also has received some threats, so he is storing the sculpture for now in a refrigerated truck in an undisclosed location.
On Friday, a Manhattan gallery called off a planned exhibit of the 6-foot (1.8-meter) sculpture — called "My Sweet Lord" — amid a deluge of complaints from Catholics, including Cardinal Edward Egan.
They were offended by the anatomically correct confection, which does not include the loincloth typical in religious portrayals of Christ. Many also were outraged that the gallery planned to display the sculpture during Holy Week. The exhibit was to have run from Monday through Easter Sunday inside midtown Manhattan's Roger Smith Hotel.
The controversy spurred "thousands" of e-mail messages from people offering help, donations and exhibition space, Cavallaro said.
"It's quite amazing," he said.
Cavallaro, who was raised in Canada and Italy, is best known for his quirky work with food as art: Past efforts include repainting a Manhattan hotel room in melted mozzarella, spraying 5 tons of pepper jack cheese on a Wyoming home and festooning a four-poster bed with 310 pounds of processed ham.
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