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Noah Davis (June 3, 1983 – August 29, 2015), was an American painter,
installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...
ist, and founder of the Underground Museum in Los Angeles. When talking about his work, Davis has said, "if I’m making any statement, it’s to just show black people in normal scenarios, where drugs and guns are nothing to do with it," and describes his work as "instances where black aesthetics and modernist aesthetics collide." Davis died at his home in
Ojai, California Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...
, on August 29, 2015, of a rare form of soft tissue cancer.


Early life

Noah Davis was born on June 3, 1983, in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, Washington. Davis was the youngest son of Keven Davis, a lawyer, and Faith Childs-Davis, an educator. His older brother,
Kahlil Joseph Kahlil Joseph (pronounced ''"Kha-leel"'') is an American film, television and stage actor and teacher of performing arts. He has worked extensively in the United States and India. Joseph is based in Los Angeles. Early life Joseph was born in ...
, is a filmmaker and video artist who has also shown work at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA).


Beginnings and education

Davis started painting in his early teenage years, and was so serious about his work that, according to his brother Kahlil, he had his own studio by the time he was just 17 years old. He went on to study painting at the
Cooper Union School of Art The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
in New York City from 2001 to 2004, though he did not graduate. By 2004 he had moved to Los Angeles, and began working at the bookstore at MOCA. He exhibited his paintings as early as 2007, in group exhibitions and solo gallery shows in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere followed. It was during this time that he began to establish and build a reputation for his work. After having his work featured in a group show curated by Lindsay Charlwood in 2007, Davis gained the attention of Culver City gallery owner Bennett Roberts, of Roberts & Tilton. He would go on to be represented by Roberts for the next 5 years. Over the years, Davis would have his work shown in the
Rubell Museum The Rubell Museum, formerly the Rubell Family Collection, is a private contemporary art museum with locations in the Allapattah neighborhood of Miami, Florida, and the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Opened to the public in ...
, Nasher Museum of Art, the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's o ...
, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
.


Career

Davis became known, for his melancholic portrayals of blurred black figures against barren or shadowy landscapes - paintings that often teetered dangerously into the unreal. During his life he made approximately around four hundred paintings, collages, and sculptures. His paintings are both figurative and abstract, realistic and dreamlike; they are about blackness and the history of Western painting, drawn from photographs and from life; they are energetic and mournful in their palette. "He paints what he sees and thinks, expressing the dynamics of his subject with great dignity and simplicity." Davis had advanced compositions that rendered three dimensional but remained flat. He was influenced by European painters
Marlene Dumas Marlene Dumas (born 3 August 1953) is a South African artist and painter currently based in the Netherlands. Life and work Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Kuils River in the Western Cape, where her father had ...
and
Luc Tuymans Luc Tuymans (born 14 June 1958) is a Belgian visual artist best known for his paintings which explore people's relationship with history and confront their ability to ignore it. World War II is a recurring theme in his work. He is a key figure ...
, as well as American painters such as Mark Rothko and Fairfield Porter.


Underground Museum

In 2012, he founded the Underground Museum with his wife, the sculptor
Karon Davis Karon Davis ( née Karon Vereen; born 1977), is an American visual artist, and a founder of the Underground Museum in Los Angeles. She is known as a sculptor and an installation artist touching on issues of race and identity in America through rep ...
, in Arlington Heights, a historically working-class African-American and Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles. They wanted to bring museum-quality art "within walking distance," as he put it, to a community that had no access to it. The Underground Museum is an artist-run, experimental exhibition space made up of a series of interconnected storefronts in Arlington Heights, CA. Davis' original idea behind the space was to "sidestep the gallery system, preferring to bring museum-quality art to a community that had no access to it 'within walking distance,' as he once put it." After Davis' passing his brother
Kahlil Joseph Kahlil Joseph (pronounced ''"Kha-leel"'') is an American film, television and stage actor and teacher of performing arts. He has worked extensively in the United States and India. Joseph is based in Los Angeles. Early life Joseph was born in ...
and his sister-in-law, the film producer Onye Anyanwu, joined as founding board members. The Underground Museum is a cultural hub. John Legend and Solange Knowles launched albums there;
Barry Jenkins Barry Jenkins (born November 19, 1979) is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film ''My Josephine'' (2003), he directed his first feature film ''Medicine for Melancholy'' (2008) for which he received an Indep ...
, the director of "
Moonlight Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes. Illumination The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on the lunar phase, but even the ful ...
" and Raoul Peck, the director of the James Baldwin documentary "
I Am Not Your Negro ''I Am Not Your Negro'' is a 2016 documentary film and social critique film essay directed by Raoul Peck, based on James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript '' Remember This House''. Narrated by actor Samuel L. Jackson, the film explores the hist ...
" screened their films. By the time of his death in 2015, Davis had created a special partnership with MOCA in which the museum agreed to loan the Underground Museum works from its permanent collection for a series of shows. Davis himself curated the first one, and left behind plans for 18 others. Artists exhibited throughout the institution's history include
Rodney McMillian Rodney McMillian (born 1969, in Columbia, South Carolina) is an artist based in Los Angeles. McMillian is a Professor of Sculpture at the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles. McMillian holds a BA in ...
,
Lorna Simpson Lorna Simpson (born August 13, 1960) is an American photographer and multimedia artist. She came to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s with artworks such as ''Guarded Conditions'' and ''Square Deal''. Simpson is most well-known for her work in c ...
,
Roy DeCarava Roy Rudolph DeCarava (December 9, 1919 – October 27, 2009) was an American artist. DeCarava received early critical acclaim for his photography, initially engaging and imaging the lives of African Americans and jazz musicians in the communi ...
,
April Street April Street (born 1975) is an American artist acclaimed for painting and installation art. Street is known for her paintings where she begins with a private act of wrapping her body in swathes of fabric, and then choreographing herself dipping i ...
,
Deana Lawson Deana Lawson (1979) is an American artist, educator, and photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is primarily concerned with intimacy, family, spirituality, sexuality, and Black aesthetics. Lawson has been praised for her ability to co ...
,
William Kentridge William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films, especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s. The latter are constructed by ...
. The museum was closed for nearly two years due to the COVID-19 lockdowns and reopened in January 2022 under the newly appointed co-directorship of curator Meg Onli and executive Cristina Pacheco. The final exhibition in the Underground Museum was a solo retrospective of Davis's paintings. The museum closed again in March 2022 under unclear circumstances with the departures of both Onli and Pacheco. In a letter to supporters of the museum, posted to social media and the museum's website, Karon Davis wrote that she and her family had been "not able to fully grieve oah'sloss privately," and noted "how hard it has been for our family to let go enough to allow Meg and Cristina to do their jobs." The museum has not announced any long-term plans to reopen.


Exhibitions

Davis staged a number of solo shows during his lifetime at galleries and museums in the United States. His notable solo shows include ''Noah Davis: Nobody'' (2008), Roberts & Tilton,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
; ''Noah Davis: The Forgotten Works'' (2010), Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles; ''Savage Wilds'' (2012), James Harris Gallery,
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
; ''The Missing Link'' (2013), Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles; and ''Garden City'' (2014), Papillion Gallery, Los Angeles. Following his death, Davis' work has been the subject of several posthumous solo shows and has been included in several high-profile group shows. The
Frye Art Museum The Frye Art Museum is a modern and contemporary art museum located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1952 to house the collection of Charles and Emma Frye and has since grown to include rotating temporary ex ...
, Seattle, organized ''Young Blood'' (2016), an exhibition exploring the work of Davis, his brother
Kahlil Joseph Kahlil Joseph (pronounced ''"Kha-leel"'') is an American film, television and stage actor and teacher of performing arts. He has worked extensively in the United States and India. Joseph is based in Los Angeles. Early life Joseph was born in ...
, and the Underground Museum;
David Zwirner Gallery David Zwirner Gallery is an American contemporary art gallery owned by David Zwirner. It has four gallery spaces in New York City and one each in London, Hong Kong, and Paris. History The Zwirner Gallery opened in 1993 on the ground floor of ...
, New York, staged a career retrospective in 2020 curated by
Helen Molesworth Helen Anne Molesworth (born 1966, Chickasaw, Alabama) is an American curator of contemporary art based in Los Angeles. From 2014 to 2018, she was the Chief Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles. Biography In 1997, she e ...
; and a suite of Davis' paintings were included in ''
The Milk of Dreams ''The Milk of Dreams'' is the main art exhibition of the 2022 Venice Biennale The 59th Venice Biennale is an international contemporary art exhibition held between April and November 2022. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Ven ...
'' (2022) at the
59th Venice Biennale The 59th Venice Biennale is an international contemporary art exhibition held between April and November 2022. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Cecilia Alemani curated its central exhibition. ...
. Molesworth curated a second retrospective of Davis' work in 2022 for the Underground Museum with Justen Leroy, but the show ended several months early with the unexpected closure of the museum in March 2022.


Notable works in public collections

*''American Sterile'' (2008),
Rubell Museum The Rubell Museum, formerly the Rubell Family Collection, is a private contemporary art museum with locations in the Allapattah neighborhood of Miami, Florida, and the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Opened to the public in ...
,
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
/
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
*''Black Wall Street'' (2008),
Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
*''Black Widow with Brothers Fighting'' (2008), Nasher Museum of Art,
Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
*''The Messenger'' (2008),
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...
*''The Seven Prisoners of the Abyss'' (2008), Rubell Museum, Miami/Washington, D.C. *''The Gardener'' (2009), Studio Museum in Harlem, New York *''I Own a Morandi'' (2009),
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's o ...
*''The Year of the Coxswain'' (2009), Studio Museum in Harlem, New York *''All Those Lost to Oh Well'' (2010), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles *''inBoil and Margaret'' (2010), Santa Barbara Museum of Art,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
*''The Missing Link 4'' (2014),
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
*''Pueblo del Rio: Public Art Sculpture'' (2014),
Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...
, Los Angeles *''Carlos' World'' (2014-2015), Whitney Museum, New York *''The "Fitz"'' (2015), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles *''Untitled'' (2015),
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, New York


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Noah 2015 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters 1983 births 20th-century American male artists African-American painters