Cosimo Cavallaro was born in Montreal in 1961 to Italian immigrant parents and grew up between Canada and Italy. A formative moment in his childhood came when, after asking his mother for a toy owned by other neighborhood children, she told him to draw it until it became real, only then could he have it. This early lesson, that an image or amorphous material could achieve a reality more powerful than the object itself, became a guiding principle in his work.
Cavallaro is known for his provocative and inventive installations, often using chocolate, cheese, or other perishable substances. Notable works include My Sweet Lord, a life-size chocolate sculpture of Jesus; Hotel Room 114, a New York hotel room covered with 5,000 pounds of melted Swiss cheese; The Wyoming Cheese House, coated inside and out with pepper jack cheese; and Twiggy in Cheese, a performance installation featuring the model Twiggy. This Is Not A Wall at the U.S., Mexico border, constructed from hundreds of Cotija cheese blocks as a commentary on barriers, later became the subject of a legal dispute. In 2020, Cavallaro filed a lawsuit under the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) against SLSCO Ltd. and associated parties after the installation was destroyed, asserting that the demolition violated his moral rights and deprived him of the ability to complete and exhibit the work. Other works include large-scale, playful public sculptures such as Love Your Bean / Jelly Bean Sculptures in Vancouver and West Hollywood, as well as installations like Candy Chair, Ketchup Room, and Absolute Pressed Ham Bed.
His latest work, "Passion of the Crust," features a life-sized chocolate sculpture of a transgender Jesus placed atop a heated aluminum plate, where it will slowly melt over three hours. Filmed by seven cameras and streamed globally as a live pay-per-view event from an undisclosed location in Los Angeles, the performance unfolds to the hypnotic strains of Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, whose steady crescendo mirrors the sculpture’s gradual dissolution. Learn more and get tickets at: https://www.chocolatejesusmelts.com/
And All Shall Be Well is an optimistic podcast where Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer (he/him) has conversations with guests about how they find how and faith in this chaotic world. Believing that all people are a work in progress, And All Shall Be Well celebrates diverse people, wellness practices and points of view. Megan is faith leader, prolific author, and an award winning historian.
33 mins