10 Must-See Exhibitions at the Venice Biennale
W Magazine
April 24, 2024
Left to right, Call Me Ishmael (1964/1998), Bob's Column (1964/1998), My Mother (1964/1998), Dillinger (1964/1998), My Father (1964/1998), and Call Me Indiana (1964/1998), on display in Robert Indiana: The Sweet Mystery, Procuratie Vecchie, Venice. Photo: Marco Cappelletti; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
The biennial’s biggest surprise comes from an unlikely place: Robert Indiana, an artist who has unfortunately been pigeonholed by a middlebrow public art reputation. This posthumous show does the work to right this wrong, laying out a legacy of radically beautiful and adventurous works beginning with Indiana’s first years in Coenties Slip, a hallowed wisp of history on the docks of what has now been rebranded as New York’s South Street Seaport.