{"id":944479,"date":"2026-05-07T19:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/944479\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T19:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:54:18","slug":"us-artist-alma-allen-brings-bronze-evil-eye-to-venice-biennale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/944479\/","title":{"rendered":"US artist Alma Allen brings bronze evil eye to Venice Biennale"},"content":{"rendered":"

VENICE, Italy (AP) \u2014 U.S. artist Alma Allen had just months to prepare his exhibition for the Venice Biennale<\/a> after a fraught selection process came down to the wire.<\/p>\n

The self-taught sculptor from Utah who works in Mexico<\/a> is keenly aware of his place as an outsider within the cliquey art world, and is bracing for the critical gaze as he takes one of the most prestigious stages in contemporary art.<\/p>\n

A selection process that has been described as \u201copaque\u201d has cast a shadow over the opening.<\/p>\n

Institutions that typically vie for the coveted Biennale commission shied away out of apparent concern that they would be subjected to administration politics after the open call removed language focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion<\/a> and replaced it with requirements to promote \u201cAmerican values.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a seemingly ironic act, Allen created a bronze evil eye to hang on the exterior of the brick, Jeffersonian-style U.S. Pavilion to ward off bad vibes, he joked. It is one of a dozen new pieces that he made for an exhibition that will likely be a defining moment in his 30-year career.<\/p>\n

Just days before the Biennale\u2019s opening on Saturday, the evil eye still had not arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really the first circumstance in my life as an artist where I felt the need to defend myself, or my work,\u2019\u2019 Allen told The Associated Press during a walk-through of the pavilion this week. He acknowledged that having lived outside the critical eye for the last three decades \u201chas been actually a pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Artist<\/p>\n

Artist Alma Allen poses inside the United States pavilion \u2018Call Me the Breeze\u2019 at the Venice 2026 Biennale Art, in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Luca Bruno)<\/p>\n

Artist Alma Allen poses inside the United States pavilion \u2018Call Me the Breeze\u2019 at the Venice 2026 Biennale Art, in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Luca Bruno)<\/p>\n

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The outsider artist<\/p>\n

Allen makes biomorphic sculptures in wood, stone and bronze, and is reluctant to name them to give viewers \u201ca moment of creation when they can decide what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Biennale exhibition, titled \u201cCall Me the Breeze,\u201d includes works he made over the last 20 years, interspersed with new work. Alma said he chose the title to reflect his ability to get around obstacles. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s been my necessity and it\u2019s also because of being self-taught and not having any institutional support very often in life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The pavilion\u2019s commissioner, Jeffrey Uslip, said Alma\u2019s institutional independence was part of the appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply interested and invested in artists who are not, I guess, academicized \u2026 or lobotomized,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A visitor looks at sculptures inside the United States pavilion \u2018Call Me the Breeze\u2019 at the Venice 2026 Biennale Art, in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Luca Bruno)<\/p>\n

A visitor looks at sculptures inside the United States pavilion \u2018Call Me the Breeze\u2019 at the Venice 2026 Biennale Art, in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Luca Bruno)<\/p>\n

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Lost and found commission<\/p>\n

A prior proposal for artist Robert Lazzarini to stage the show, curated by art historian John Ravenal, fell apart in September, despite having secured U.S. State Department approval, after the project\u2019s required institutional sponsor backed out, Ravenal told AP.<\/p>\n

A U.S. State Department attempt to link the Lazzarini project to the newly formed American Arts Conservancy, failed, and a short time later the new project with the AAC as sponsor, Uslip as curator and Allen as artist was announced.<\/p>\n

Uslip declined to discuss the selection process.<\/p>\n

Ravenal called the process highly unusual, with no apparent committee vetting or application process, noting that the application deadline had expired in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really a loss of a 40-year history of open call and peer review,\u2019\u2019 Ravenal told AP by telephone, describing Allen as \u201ca pawn in this whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen is aware his willingness to mount the show has been the source of some backlash. But he insists that the Trump administration has not interfered with the show in any way.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy art is not propaganda,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Artist<\/p>\n

Artist Alma Allen gestures as he speaks with the Associated Press inside the United States pavilion \u2018Call Me the Breeze\u2019 at the Venice 2026 Biennale Art, in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Luca Bruno)<\/p>\n

Artist Alma Allen gestures as he speaks with the Associated Press inside the United States pavilion \u2018Call Me the Breeze\u2019 at the Venice 2026 Biennale Art, in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Luca Bruno)<\/p>\n

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Wrong sheep, right moment<\/p>\n

In the pavilion\u2019s courtyard, a headless, and thus directionless, sheep stands as a self-portrait of Alma as an outsider. He described it as \u201ca bit shunned because it\u2019s the wrong sheep.\u201d <\/p>\n

His most recent work includes bronze wall sculptures that he treats with chemicals in a form of painting, treating the hard metal \u201cas an instantaneous material, like watercolor,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Alma\u2019s journey to the Biennale included a period of homelessness in New York City<\/a> when he sold his creations from atop an ironing board, a move of admitted desperation that soft-launched his artistic career, establishing his first collectors.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Palm Springs Art Museum own pieces of Allen\u2019s work, and he participated in the 2014 Whitney Biennial. He made his European debut in Brussels in 2022.<\/p>\n

After getting the Biennale commission, he made his first trip ever to Venice in November to view the U.S. Pavilion, a neoclassic brick building built around a courtyard and rotunda. A painting by Hieronymus Bosch titled \u201cThe Visions of Hereafter\u201d at Venice\u2019s Accademia depicting heaven, hell and purgatory inspired the show\u2019s organizing principle. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted there to be a bit of the chaos that we go through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Beyond his body of work, Allen attributes his selection to the fact that \u201cI\u2019m just ready to do things at the last minute\u201d and accept challenges as they come. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they do, I\u2019m prepared to try it, and fail at it. That\u2019s fine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VENICE, Italy (AP) \u2014 U.S. artist Alma Allen had just months to prepare his exhibition for the Venice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":944480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,19639,48181,4022,32,77,4179,263751,6332,2199,263752,263749,3274,2132,8501,263750,16,15,72405,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-944479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","11":"tag-central-america","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-hieronymus-bosch","17":"tag-homelessness","18":"tag-italy","19":"tag-jeffrey-uslip","20":"tag-john-ravenal","21":"tag-latin-america","22":"tag-mexico","23":"tag-new-york-city","24":"tag-robert-lazzarini","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-united-kingdom","27":"tag-visual-arts","28":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116535052364651952","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}