An undergraduate student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago has been attracting a buzz with the piece he made for his senior show. The piece, titled "Blessing," is a paper mache sculpture of presidential hopeful Barack Obama as Jesus, complete with robes and a neon blue halo.

The student, 24-year-old David Cordero, said he decided to create the sculpture because Obama's been getting an enormous amount of attention since it was rumored he might run for president.

"He's sort of emerged as this really sort of charismatic and really popular person. I think that people really like him and I think it's because of his message of unity and sort of his political platform," Cordero said, according to Fox News.

Bruce Jenkins, the dean of the Art Institute's undergraduate program, said the school has been flooded with calls regarding Cordero's sculpture, "some of them from angry people."

However, he said the sculpture has gotten mostly positive feedback.

AP quotes him as saying, "When you see it, when you spend time with it, you understand it's not a provocative work at all. It opens a set of questions."

The Obama camp has made it clear that the Illinois senator has nothing to do with the piece.

"While we respect First Amendment rights and don't think the artist was trying to be offensive, Senator Obama, as a rule, isn't a fan of art that offends religious sensibilities," Obama spokesman Jen Psaki said.