Outsider Artist Takes Center Stage at Venice Biennale Amid Selection Controversy

U.S. artist Alma Allen finds himself in an unexpected spotlight as he prepares for the prestigious Venice Biennale, having had just months to create his exhibition after a contentious selection process that came down to the wire.

The self-taught sculptor from Utah, who now works in Mexico, is acutely aware of his outsider status within the elite art world. As he prepares to showcase his work on one of contemporary art’s most influential stages, Allen braces himself for the intense scrutiny that comes with such visibility.

“This is really the first circumstance in my life as an artist where I felt the need to defend myself, or my work,” Allen told The Associated Press during a walk-through of the U.S. Pavilion. Having operated largely outside the critical eye for three decades “has been actually a pleasure,” he admitted.

The selection process for this year’s U.S. representation has been described as “opaque,” casting a shadow over the exhibition’s opening. Many institutions that typically compete for the coveted Biennale commission reportedly stepped back due to concerns about political interference. The open call for submissions had removed language focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion, replacing it with requirements to promote “American values.”

In what he describes as an “ironic act,” Allen created a bronze evil eye to hang on the exterior of the brick, Jeffersonian-style U.S. Pavilion—a talisman to ward off bad energy. It’s one of a dozen new pieces created specifically for this exhibition, which will likely mark a defining moment in his 30-year career. Just days before the Biennale’s opening, the protective charm had yet to arrive.

Biomorphic Visions

Allen specializes in creating biomorphic sculptures in wood, stone, and bronze. He intentionally avoids naming his abstract pieces, preferring to give viewers “a moment of creation when they can decide what it is” themselves.

His Biennale exhibition, titled “Call Me the Breeze,” features works spanning the last two decades alongside new creations. Allen chose the title to reflect his ability to navigate around obstacles throughout his career.

“That’s been my necessity, and it’s also because of being self-taught and not having any institutional support very often in life,” he explained.

Jeffrey Uslip, the pavilion’s commissioner, highlighted Allen’s institutional independence as a key factor in his selection. “I am deeply interested and invested in artists who are not, I guess, academicized… or lobotomized,” Uslip noted.

Controversial Selection

The path to Allen’s appointment was unconventional and controversial. A previously approved proposal for artist Robert Lazzarini, curated by art historian John Ravenal, collapsed in September after the project’s required institutional sponsor withdrew, despite having secured State Department approval.

A subsequent attempt to link the Lazzarini project to the newly formed American Arts Conservancy failed. Shortly afterward, the new project with the AAC as sponsor, Uslip as curator, and Allen as artist was announced.

When asked about the selection process, Uslip declined to comment. Ravenal, however, called it “highly unusual,” noting there was no apparent committee vetting or application process despite the application deadline having expired in July.

“It’s really a loss of a 40-year history of open call and peer review,” Ravenal told AP by telephone, describing Allen as “a pawn in this whole thing.”

Allen acknowledges that his willingness to mount the show has generated some backlash, but he insists the Trump administration has not interfered with the exhibition. “My art is not propaganda,” he emphasized.

From Homelessness to Venice

In the pavilion’s courtyard stands a headless, directionless sheep—Allen’s self-portrait as an outsider. He described it as “a bit shunned because it’s the wrong sheep.”

His recent works include bronze wall sculptures treated with chemicals in a form of painting, handling the hard metal “as an instantaneous material, like watercolor,” according to the artist.

Allen’s journey to the Biennale includes a period of homelessness in New York City, during which he sold his creations from atop an ironing board. This act of “admitted desperation” inadvertently launched his artistic career by establishing his first collectors.

His work is now included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Palm Springs Art Museum, and he participated in the prestigious 2014 Whitney Biennial. He made his European debut in Brussels in 2022.

After receiving the Biennale commission, Allen visited Venice for the first time in November to view the U.S. Pavilion—a neoclassic brick building built around a courtyard and rotunda. A painting by Hieronymus Bosch titled “The Visions of Hereafter” at Venice’s Accademia, depicting heaven, hell, and purgatory, inspired the show’s organizing principle.

“I wanted there to be a bit of the chaos that we go through,” Allen explained.

Beyond his artistic merit, Allen attributes his selection partly to his willingness to embrace last-minute challenges. “I’m just ready to do things at the last minute,” he said. “When they do, I’m prepared to try it, and fail at it. That’s fine.”