CNN interview with Sweet Jesus sculptor
2 May 2007 7 Comments
I don’t know how I missed this CNN interview with the sculptor of Sweet Jesus:
In the video, the artist claims to be Catholic. How ironic, how sad, that his own denomination led the charge against this very well-crafted and potent work. The interview is apparently from the end of March.
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Uh … he’s Catholic and he didn’t know it was Holy Week?
however he ment for this to be interpreted, i feel the same of TAE. chocolate and Jesus are good together. this at least created a dialog. thanks for the info. i saw the whole ordeal online, but missed the interview. i might put a similar post on my site as well. good eats! balm
Chocolate represents indulgence and gluttony; the sculpture was set to be unveiled during Holy Week, near the end of Lent, the season of fasting. Chocolate at Easter is associated with the commercial/corny side of the holiday (think Cadbury eggs and bunnies), which is about as far away from Christ’s Passion as you can get. It’s certainly not my job to referee disputes between Catholics, but the sculptor’s claim that he didn’t anticipate or understand the backlash suggests that as Catholics go, he’s pretty clueless.
Thanks for posting that. Shame they didn’t have more from the artist. The Catholic League lady made some ridiculous points.Firstly, the genitals are exposed because people were crucified naked. Secondly, there is no need to ask if the artist would make a chocolate sculpture of Muhammed because Jesus is also an Islamic holy prophet.
Martin said:
“Chocolate represents indulgence and gluttony”
How does it? Surely all good and bad things can be overused by people being indulgent?
I was hoping for more from the artist as well, and also keenly noted the silliness of the Muhammed thing (although the question in and of itself was OK, I thought the same as you it seems: Muhammed wasn’t ever crucified!).
And if we take the “chocolate” is gluttony thing to its limit, one could say everything a person puts on bread is decadant, no?
I can’t take the mere fact that the artists says “Yeah, I’m a Catholic” to mean very much. It could mean anything, from “Yes, I go to confession once a month and Mass twice a week” to “Well, my folks were Catholic”.
I think the reaction of the Catholic League was over the top (surprise, surprise), and made much more out of the thing than was warranted, but the overall effect of the piece, along with the titular pun, is one of trivializing Christ’s Passion, not trying to “get closer” to that Mystery of Mysteries. The artist makes no mention of trying to explore the theme of commercialization, though he had the perfect opportunity to do so.
Martin, above, is correct. The artist’s seeming surprise at the controversy rings hollow. Either that, or he’s just hopelessly tone-deaf to the religious sensibilities of others. Are we supposed to be grateful that the sculpture was NOT made of elephant dung?
Why Jesus and not Mohammed? Because Rome does not issue fatwas. Still, I hate to see Christians counted among all the other sundry groups of The Perpetually Aggrieved. We should be able to blow off these things, unless they are clearly calculated to cause outrage, and even then we need to pick our battles.
Tim said: I can’t take the mere fact that the artists says “Yeah, I’m a Catholic” to mean very much. It could mean anything, from “Yes, I go to confession once a month and Mass twice a week” to “Well, my folks were Catholic”.
I didn’t go into this on purpose *wink* However, I gave him the benefit of the doubt when he said that he was doing this in order to get closer to “his religion.” I don’t think the Christmas/Easter church attender types would make such an effort.
But you’re right. You can’t tell a person’s faith by their words. Living in the Bible belt has been a bit of culture shock for me, coming from much different Nebraska. Down here, nearly everyone’s a “Christian.” It makes it difficult to converse about faith on a deeper level.
Your blog up and running yet???