Double Vision: Artists at the 60th Venice Biennale and Frieze New York 2024

As the art world descends on Venice, discover the artists featuring prominently during the 60th Biennale who will also be bringing work to Frieze New York at the Shed, May 1–5.

Artists include, among others, Julien Creuzet and Tunji Adeniyi-Jones representing France and Nigeria respectively; Beatriz Milhazes at the Applied Arts Pavilion; Pacita Abad, Beatriz Cortez, Abel Rodríguez in Adriana Pedrosa's main exhibition; and major shows with Alex Katz, Elias Sime and Sterling Ruby in the offsite institutions.

Alex Katz: Fondazione Cini, Venice | Gladstone Gallery, Frieze New York

American artist Alex Katz is a renowned painter of modern life, drawing inspiration from pop culture, and his friends and family. Marking 70 years since Katz’s first solo exhibition, Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, presents “Alex Katz: Claire, Grass and Water,” and Gladstone Gallery brings a solo show of Katz’s most recent work to Frieze New York. At the height of abstract expressionism, Katz developed his own representational approach to painting, which he has now extended into closely cropped compositions, a choice he feels imbues his work with “much more power and energy.” Fondazione Giorgio Cini’s exhibition (curated in collaboration with Thaddaeus Ropac) highlights this evolving approach, centering on three major groups of paintings that capture: verdant landscapes, inky ocean depths and the work of trailblazing fashion designer Claire McCardell.

See “Alex Katz: Claire, Grass and Water” at Fondazione Giorgio Cini, April 17–September 29, and discover his solo show with Gladstone Gallery (A1) at Frieze New York, May 1–5.

Beatriz Milhazes: Applied Arts Pavilion, Venice Biennale | Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, Frieze New York

Beatriz Milhazes is acclaimed for her liberating use of color and geometry in ecstatic abstract paintings, bursting with chromatic vitality and drawing on the landscapes and visual motifs of her native Brazil. For the Venice Biennale, Milhazes has created a special project for the Applied Arts Pavilion in the Arsenale, curated by Adriano Pedrosa in collaboration with London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. Milhazes’s five large-scale paintings refer to the palette and patterns of a variety of traditional woven textiles from different cultures. At Frieze New York at Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, Milhazes will present Olê Olá (2020) in the US for the very first time—a work first shown at her 2021 solo show at MASP (São Paulo), where Pedrosa is director. 

See Beatriz Milhazes at the Applied Arts Pavilion in the Arsenale, April 20–November 24, and Ole Olá (2020) at Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel (B15) at Frieze New York, May 1–5.

Elias Sime: Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Tanarte, Venice | James Cohan, Frieze New York

Across the water at Tanarte in Venice, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf celebrates Elias Sime’s expansive practice in “Elias Sime: Dichotomy ፊት አና ጀርባ,” an exhibition that features large-scale wall works, dimensional assemblages and stacked sculptures. Working with braided electrical wires and deconstructed computer motherboards, Sime blends organic and technological cultures to evoke a new vision of a globalized landscape. Sime expands this innovative technique in his series “THE EARTH (ምድር),” which he debuts in a solo show with James Cohan at Frieze New York.

See “Elias Sime: Dichotomy ፊት አና ጀርባ” at Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, April 17–November 24, and discover Sime’s solo show with James Cohan (B5) at Frieze New York, May 1–5.

Read: Work in Progress: Elias Sime—“I make art because I am addicted to it”

Sterling Ruby: Palazzo Diedo, Venice | Gagosian, Frieze New York

Berggreun Arts & Culture unveils its permanent contemporary art space in Palazzo Diedo, Venice, with an exhibition of site-specific commissions by eleven internationally renowned artists, including Sterling Ruby, whose paintings and collages are the subject of Gagosian’s solo show at Frieze New York. Ruby’s connection to the 17th-century Andrea Tirali palazzo began with Hex (2022), installed on the building’s façade during its restoration. 

See “Janus” at Palazzo Diedo, April 19–November 24 and discover Ruby’s solo show with Gagosian (B6) at Frieze New York, May 1–5.

Julien Creuzet: French Pavilion, Venice Biennale | Andrew Kreps Gallery, Frieze New York

In the Giardini, Julien Creuzet’s distinctive writhing thread-wrapped forms are suspended from the ceiling of the French Pavilion, mingling with mesmeric sound, video and lavender scent. Entitled “Attila cataract your source at the feet of the green peaks will end up in the great sea blue abyss we drowned in the tidal tears of the moon,” Creuzet's work journeys through a Caribbean imaginary and affirms his belief that “my history—with a capital H—and my subconscious are rooted in [in Martinique].” In Andrew Kreps Gallery’s booth at Frieze New York, two recent wall works expand upon Creuzet’s use of repurposing materials washed ashore, and his exploration of the histories and stories carried by ocean tides.

See Julien Creuzet at the French Pavilion April 20–November 24, and discover two works at Andrew Kreps Gallery (D1) at Frieze New York, May 1–5. 

Watch: Julien Creuzet, Recipient of the 2019 Camden Art Centre Emerging Artist Prize at Frieze

Tunji Adeniyi-Jones: Nigerian Pavilion, Venice Biennale | White Cube, Frieze New York

At Venice’s Palazzo Canal, a new addition to the Biennale’s array of exhibition spaces, Nigeria presents “Nigerian Imaginary,” a group exhibition featuring eight artists: Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Ndidi Dike, Onyeka Igwe, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Abraham Oghobase, Yinka Shonibare CBE RA and Fatimah Tuggar. Adeniyi-Jones’s striking Celestial Gathering (2024) commands the space of one of the palazzo’s rooms, hanging from the ceiling in ornamental Italian tradition. In the same radiant palette, Adeniyi-Jones’s Lateral Dive Orange (2024) is on show with White Cube at Frieze New York, a work in which he reprises his use of the body as a site for storytelling and remembrance.

See Tunji Adeniyi-Jones at the Nigerian Pavilion, Venice, and with White Cube (A4) at Frieze New York, May 1–5.

Pacita Abad, Beatriz Cortez, Abel Rodríguez:“Stranieri Ovunque–Foreigners Everywhere,” Venice Biennale | Commonwealth and Council, Instituto de Visión and Tina Kim Gallery, Frieze New York

The central exhibition of the Biennale, “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere,” is underpinned by curator Adriano Pedrosa’s exploration of otherness through “the foreigner, the stranger, the queer, the outsider, the Indigenous.” Among the 300 artists and collectives showing their work in the exhibition are three artists who also feature at Frieze New York. In Venice, Beatriz Cortez shows Stela XX (Absence) (2024), a deeply contoured steel sculpture, while in New York, Commonwealth and Council presents two of Cortez’s multimedia constructions of existing and imagined objetos antiguos; Abel Rodríguez’s detailed ink drawings, which revel in his intimate botanical knowledge and memories of the Amazon, are a highlight in Venice and also feature in Instituto de Visión’s booth at Frieze New York; and Pacita Abad’s socio-political approach to textile, interrogating the sutures of immigrant experiences, is platformed both in Venice and in Tina Kim Gallery’s Frieze New York presentation.

See “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere,” April 20–November 24, and discover these artists with Commonwealth and Council (C3), Instituto de Visión (D9) and Tina Kim Gallery (A9) at Frieze New York, May 1–5.

During Frieze Week: Beatriz Cortez and Candice Lin at Performance Space, New York, April 25–June 9

Explore Frieze's coverage of the 60th Venice Biennale, including profiles, interviews and reviews, alongside The Venice Issue.

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Frieze New York returns to The Shed, May 1–5, 2024.

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^{Main Image: Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Lateral Dive Orange, 2024, oil on canvas, 213.4 × 162.6 cm. © the artist. Photo © On White Wall. Courtesy: White Cube}