How sweet it is: chocolate Russell Crowe at the Malta Pavilion

Some people just melt when they see Russell Crowe, but a chocolate sculpture of the actor might actually turn to mush this week in the Venice heat. At the Malta Pavilion's group exhibition No Need To Sparkle: Experiments in Love and Revolution, a 150-kg choco effigy of the star as Maximus in the blockbuster movie Gladiator is on display. For her presentation Dolce, artist Charlie Cauchi has included the sweet statuary originally made by Tiziano Cassar for the Hamrun Chocolate Festival in 2023. Crowe initially saw the piece and loved his (sort of) likeness, saying on X: “Some people get statues made of bronze. Some in marble. In Malta, they have me made out of… chocolate!!! I will be available to eat.” A press statement says that Dolce “explores the complex relationship between reality and mediation, approaching Malta and its people as a palimpsest in which histories accumulate rather than disappear”. Sweet stuff.