Noah Davis
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The first institutional survey of the late Noah Davis (1983–2015) charts the breadth and depth of the American artist’s relentless output. Assembling over 50 works made between 2007 and 2015, the exhibition is organized in a manner that reflects the diverse interests informing Davis’s practice including current affairs, everyday life, family histories, ancient Egyptian cosmologies, the racism of American media, art history, and architecture. Inspired by vernacular sources—from flea market photographs to personal archives—Davis’s fluid painting style questioned complex histories of representation and image-making. Although the body of paintings he produced over a brief creative life was largely figurative, Davis employed unorthodox techniques and rich color palettes to create scenes that feel simultaneously realistic and dreamlike, joyful and melancholic, capturing the contradictory sensations of lived experience.
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![Painting of a Black man riding a unicorn on a black background]()
Noah Davis, 40 Acres and a Unicorn, 2007Acrylic and gouache on canvas. 30 × 26 in. (76.2 × 66 cm). Private Collection. Courtesy of the Estate of Noah Davis and David Zwirner. Photo: Anna Arca
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![Painting of a Black woman wearing an elaborate yellow costume with rounded wings]()
Noah Davis, Isis, 2009Oil and acrylic on linen. 48 × 48 in. (121.9 × 121.9 cm). Mellon Foundation Art Collection. Courtesy of the Estate of Noah Davis and David Zwirner. Photo: Kerry McFate
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![Painting of a Black man holding a lantern viewed from behind, in front of a starry sky]()
Noah Davis, Painting for My Dad, 2011Oil on canvas. 76 × 91 in. (193 × 231.1 cm). Rubell Museum. Courtesy of the Estate of Noah Davis and David Zwirner. Photo: Kerry McFate
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![Painting of a pool, with a figure in the foreground diving in]()
Noah Davis, 1975 (8), 2013Oil on canvas in artist’s frame. 49 1/2 × 72 1/2 in. (125.7 × 184.2 cm). Private collection. Courtesy of the Estate of Noah Davis and David Zwirner. Photo: Kerry McFate
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![Painting of a group of Black men looking at the viewer]()
Noah Davis, Congo #2, 2015Congo #2, 2015. Oil on canvas in artist's frame. 49 1/2 × 73 1/2 in. (125.7 × 186.7 cm). Private Collection of Aileen Getty. Courtesy of the Estate of Noah Davis and David Zwirner. Photo: Elon Schoenholz
The exhibition is organized by the Barbican, London and initiated with DAS MINSK, Potsdam. The exhibition is curated by Eleanor Nairne, Keith L and Katherine Sachs Curator and Head of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and former Barbican senior curator, and Wells Fray-Smith, curator, Barbican. The presentation at the Hammer is organized by Aram Moshayedi, interim chief curator, with Ikechúkwú Onyewuenyi, former curatorial associate.
Lead support for the Hammer’s presentation of Noah Davis is provided by Andy Song. Generous support is provided by Susan Bay Nimoy and Leonard Nimoy. Additional support provided by the Eileen Harris Norton Foundation and Stephen Zimmerman and Lianne Barnes.