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Tribune News Service

A Los Angeles artist has answered US President Donald Trump’s call for a border wall with Mexico.
Vowing to “Make America Grate Again,” Cosimo Cavallaro is creating a wall of cheese next to the actual border in Tecate, California.


“The first thing that comes to your mind is that it’s absurd,” Cavallaro said by phone on his way to work on the wall, which is already 1.5 metres (five feet) tall and nine metres long.
It is a ludicrous effort, he said, referring to both walls.
“To spend all this money to keep dividing the countries, I think is a waste,” he said. “You see the waste in my wall, but you can’t see the waste in [Trump’s] US$10 billion wall, which in time will be removed?”
As he set down slabs of cotija – a hard, crumbly cow’s milk cheese from the Mexican state of Michoacan – a Border Patrol agent walked by the desert landscape. He gave Cavallaro a thumbs-up.
“Nice place for a picnic,” the agent said, chuckling.
Cavallaro said he works with perishable components such as cheese to demonstrate the fleeting and decadent nature of material objects and humankind.
Most famously, he created My Sweet Lord, a 90kg (200 pound) sculpture of Jesus made from chocolate and displayed in New York.

But one of his favourite materials to work with is cheese, inspired by his Italian roots. He has drenched a hotel room in melted mozzarella and even outfitted the supermodel Twiggy in the dairy product.
Cavallaro said he has long wanted to make a wall of cheese, but it wasn’t until November 2016 that Trump gave him the inspiration he needed. He set out to find a location along the US-Mexico border and rented a 14-acre piece of land in southeastern San Diego County.

“This has been on my mind for many years, but when he became president, it became obvious that was the place to do it,” Cavallaro said.
The exhibit stands just a few metres away from a metal fence topped with barbed wire that divides the US and Mexico.
It was pure coincidence that while Cavallaro was planning his cheese wall late last year and the government was preparing a shutdown in Trump’s fight over funding an actual wall at the border that House Republicans called an emergency meeting – to discuss cheese. Lawmakers wanted to address a bill called the Curd Act, a proposal to allow some cheeses to be advertised as “natural” despite having artificial ingredients.
Fast food fan Donald Trump foots bill for burger feast as shutdown bites White House chefs
At least one legislator was clearly cheesed off at the interruption.
“This is an emergency meeting that we’re having here and I’ve seen some surreal things around this place, but this is really something,” Democratic Party Congressman Jim McGovern said. “Vital parts of our government are about to shut down in just a few hours, and the Republicans have called an emergency meeting on cheese.”

In other cheesy news, White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway mistakenly called Trump the “commander of cheese” in an interview in June with CNN.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Cavallaro said, adding that he takes inspiration from life’s absurdities. “Our cheesy times,” he said.
While Trump continues to fight Congress over funding for his wall, more than US$1,000 has been raised for Cavallaro’s. The artist is hosting a GoFundMe campaign and selling mugs and T-shirts with the slogan “Make America Grate Again” and “Make America Say Cheese”.
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Each slab of cheese costs US$100, and Cavallaro hopes to raise enough money to stretch the wall along 1,000 feet of the southern border.
Despite the obvious comparisons, Cavallaro insists his installation is not political. He simply wants to show that people are better off without walls dividing them and inciting fear.
“It sounds cheesy,” he said, “but just love one another.”


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Artist Cosimo Cavallaro vows to ‘Make America Grate Again’ with cheese wall at Mexico border

Parts of Canadian artist Cosimo Cavallaro's controversial sculptures are on display in his exhibition "Chocolate Saints...Sweet Jesus" at The Proposition gallery 26 October 2007 in New York City. In addition to the life-sized rendering of Jesus on the cross is a series of small Catholic saints.  All sculptures on display were created with chocolate.   Chris Hondros/Getty Images/AFP   =FOR NEWSPAPER, INTERNET, TELCOS AND TELEVISION USE ONLY=

New York artist Cosimo Cavallaro covers the bedroom of a small house with melted processed cheese, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2001, in Powell, Wyo. The Wyoming Cheese House is latest project for an artist who lays claim to having covered a hotel room and the model Twiggy in cheese. (AP Photo/The Casper Star-Tribune, Dan Cepeda)

LOS ANGELES Ñ A Los Angeles artist has answered President Donald TrumpÕs call for a border wall with Mexico.Vowing to ÒMake America Grate Again,Ó Cosimo Cavallaro is creating a wall of cheese next to the actual border in Tecate, Calif.ÒThe first thing that comes to your mind is that itÕs absurd,Ó Cavallaro said by phone on his way to work on the wall, which is already 5 feet tall and 30 feet long.ItÕs a ludicrous effort, he said, referring to both walls. Photo Credit: Alan Shaffer and Sarah Cavallaro/ ProducerÑ www.cheesewall.com

Artist Cosimo Cavallaro near his wall of cheese by the actual border with Mexico in Tecate, California. Photo: Alan Shaffer/Sarah Cavallaro/www.cheesewall.com

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Billy McFarland, the promoter of the failed Fyre Festival in the Bahamas, leaves federal court after pleading guilty to wire fraud charges, Tuesday, March 6, 2018, in New York. He faces a sentence of 8 to 10 years. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

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Fyre Festival in Bahamas. Photo: Instagram

China lifts ban on soft cheese imports after clarification on ‘non-harmful’ bacteria, EU officials say

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The structure is made from US$100 slabs of cotija – a hard, crumbly cow’s milk cheese from the Mexican state of Michoacan


The structure is made from slabs of cotija – a hard, crumbly cow’s milk cheese from the Mexican state of Michoacan.


Offbeat

US immigration

Food and agriculture

Artist Cosimo Cavallaro vows to ‘Make America Grate Again’ with cheese wall at Mexico border

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The structure is made from US$100 slabs of cotija – a hard, crumbly cow’s milk cheese from the Mexican state of Michoacan

The structure is made from US$100 slabs of cotija – a hard, crumbly cow’s milk cheese from the Mexican state of Michoacan