Every two years, nearly 100 countries send their best artists to the Venice Biennale, sometimes called the Olympics of art. It’s cultural diplomacy dressed up as art—a chance for each nation to make a statement to the world about who they are. I am by no means an art expert; the closest I’ve come to curation is deciding which of my kids’ sketches goes on the fridge. But as someone who happened to be passing through the Italian city on a family vacation, I was curious to see what the rest of the world might be taking away about America from the US exhibit.

By now, a lot has been written about how the US artist was chosen. Normally, the artist is selected by a panel of experts from the National Endowment for the Arts. This........

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