[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1-Portrait-of-Alma-Allen-e1780957478525.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tArtist Alma Allen has again accused art publicist David Resnicow of working against Allen\u2019s controversial U.S. Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, after months of criticism surrounding the project.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn an Instagram post published Monday afternoon, Allen wrote that \u201ctwo of the three galleries that withdrew their support for my pavilion informed me that they did so on the advice of David Resnicow,\u201d referring to the veteran art-world publicist whose firm has represented the US Pavilion six times before this year\u2019s edition.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI have never met Mr. Resnicow,\u201d Allen wrote in the post\u00a0\u201cBut his name came up frequently from individuals who told me he had warned them not to support this year\u2019s American Pavilion. This included arts writers, museum directors, funders, curators, and two of the three galleries that withdrew support.\u201d Allen\u2019s post marks the second time he has publicly identified Resnicow by name. The first was in a\u00a0New York Times\u00a0<\/em>article in March announcing that Allen had gained representation with the international gallery Perrotin after Kasmin and Mendes Wood DM, both of which represented Allen, and reportedly cut ties with the artist following his decision to represent the US at this year\u2019s Venice Biennale.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a statement previously provided to the Times<\/em>, Resnicow\u00a0denied attempting to discourage support for Allen, adding that he had voiced concerns about whether the American Arts Conservancy was capable of successfully realizing the project, citing his experience working with the commissioning institutions behind six of the past seven US pavilions. In a statement Monday about the escalation of Allen\u2019s allegations, Resnicow told\u00a0ARTnews\u00a0<\/em>that Allen\u2019s claims were \u201cbaffling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201c[He] keeps perpetuating this narrative\u2026it simply isn\u2019t true,\u201d Resnicow said. \u201cI\u2019ve never told anyone not to work with him or spoken with anymore about funding for the pavilion.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAllen\u2019s Instagram post adds a new chapter to one of the most contentious Biennale cycles in recent memory. Since the artist was announced as America\u2019s representative last November, criticism has focused as much on his work as on the process that put him there. In the same post, Allen said he did not apply for the commission. Instead, he said curator Jeffrey Uslip told him he was one of five artists shortlisted by a committee made up of representatives from the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts in Embassies, and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. According to Allen, the other artists under consideration were Julie Mehretu, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Kennedy Yanko, and William Eggleston.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI assumed the selection process would be made public, but it wasn\u2019t,\u201d Allen wrote. However, one source who asked for anonymity told me that Allen very much knew the reputational risks, and was advised by multiple people close to him that accepting Uslip\u2019s invitation to represent the US in Venice could be disastrous.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tStill, the negativity pointed in Allen\u2019s direction appears to be at the heart of his frustration. In March, he told\u00a0the Times<\/em>\u00a0that Uslip\u2014who also serves on the board of the American Arts Conservancy, the nonprofit commissioner behind the pavilion\u2014called him last October and\u00a0offered him the project. Allen has since repeatedly argued that he became the public face of decisions he neither made nor fully understood at the time.<\/p>\n \n\tThe backlash began almost immediately after his selection was announced. Critics questioned the role of the newly formed American Arts Conservancy, while others argued that Allen\u2019s abstract sculptures were an odd choice for a Biennale taking place during President Trump\u2019s second term. In a sharply critical\u00a0ARTnews<\/em> opinion piece, critic Alex Greenberger wrote that Allen\u2019s selection was \u201cdeeply dispiriting\u201d and argued that his work had \u201cnothing to say about the state of our country at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe criticism continued after the pavilion opened. Yet Allen has suggested that much of the debate had little to do with the work itself. Earlier this spring, he told\u00a0ARTnews<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>that he worried people were defining the sculptures for him and projecting politics onto work that was never intended as a political statement.<\/p>\n \n\tSpeaking with\u00a0ARTnews<\/em>\u00a0on Monday, Allen said the experience in Venice had been overwhelming. \u201cIt was very difficult,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople on the street there came up to me and gave their opinion about whether I should or shouldn\u2019t have done the pavilion.\u201d Allen said he ended up leaving Venice after just two days, skipping dinners, parties, and official events. <\/p>\n \n\tHe also said he was frustrated that the selection process as he knew it was never publicly clarified. Despite the controversy, Allen said he does not regret doing the exhibition. \u201cI\u2019m still happy I\u2019ve done it because people are seeing the work,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m not sure I would want to be much involved in the art world going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLater on Monday, the artist told ARTnews<\/em> over text that the three galleries that withdrew support were Kasmin, Mendes Wood DM, and Pace. Kasmin has since transitioned to a new gallery, Olney Gleason, which declined to comment on the post, as did Mendes Wood DM. Multiple sources previously told ARTnews<\/em> that Pace had explored representing Allen after he was dropped by Kasmin and Mendes Wood DM following the pavilion announcement. Though Pace did not end up representing Allen, a gallery representative told ARTnews<\/em> that Resnicow \u201cdid not advise us against working with Alma Allen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/alma-allen-david-resnicow-venice-biennale-us-pavilion-1234788547\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1-Portrait-of-Alma-Allen-e1780957478525.jpg?w=1024″] Artist Alma Allen has again accused art publicist David Resnicow of working against Allen\u2019s controversial U.S. Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, after months of criticism surrounding the project. In an Instagram post published Monday afternoon, Allen wrote that \u201ctwo of the three galleries that withdrew their support for my pavilion informed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1979471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1979471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1979471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1979471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1979471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}