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REVIEW / FEATURE

Tragically Short but Impactful Journey of Noah Davis

Davis was interested in changing "the way people view art, the way they buy art, the way they make art."
noah-davis Noah Davis, Isis, 2009. Mellon Foundation Art Collection © The Estate of Noah Davis. Courtesy The Estate of Noah Davis und David Zwirner
by Biljana Purić / November 27th, 2024

There is a muteness of colour in Noah Davis's later paintings, where everything seems hazy—greens, yellows, and blues take a step back from their full radiance as if retreating from our gaze, refusing to give in fully. It is a possibility of action, of events, that makes his painterly world as if on the verge of becoming, a possibility forming before our eyes.

It is a rush of anticipation, as if in Arabesque (2014), where the next graceful move of the lined-up ballerinas—against the housing blocks of Pueblo del Rio that mirror the colours of their dresses—is about to break below a heavy, grayish sky, or in The Missing Link (2013), where the world flows from a solid, curtain wall to a pool which water is yet to be, yet to find its blueness, hinted at in just a few brushstrokes at the centre.

These, together with 50 other works by the late American artist Noah Davis (1983 - 2015), are currently on view at DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam, Germany, in a retrospective that casts light on this Seattle-born artist's figurative work that draws both from art historical sources and Davis's surroundings.

Noah Davis, Untitled, 2015
Noah Davis, Untitled, 2015. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis in honor of Jerry Speyer’s 80th birthday, 2020. © The Estate of Noah Davis. Courtesy The Estate of Noah Davis and David Zwirner

White Walls White In

Noah Davis looked around him and found his unique artistic expression in the people and art he encountered. Representing people from one's surroundings has been one of the dominant motifs in art history—just think of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's genre paintings populated by peasants or the famous depictions of his compatriots Rembrandt left for posterity. However, these and similar depictions have been overwhelmingly white, as many Western museums will immediately show. "White portraits on white walls signal ownership of all, even as white walls white in," writes Claudia Rankine, a poet, essayist, and professor of poetry at Yale University, in her poem Sound and Fury. Attempting to break this narrative and cultural dominance of whiteness, Davis left an indelible mark on contemporary painting, even though his career was cut short by his premature death at the age of 32.

The exhibition in Potsdam charts Davis's story through a display that reflects his knowledge of figurative painting and showcases his innovation in this field. In his own words, Davis was interested in changing "the way people view art, the way they buy art, the way they make art," and complemented his artistic practice with art activism, materialized in The Underground Museum he co-founded with his wife and sculptor Karon Davis in 2012. The hub operated out of converted storefronts with the aim to bring world-class art to the predominantly Black, Aisan, and Latinx neighborhood and transform the community.

"We believe that art is an essential part of a vibrant, just, and healthy society and that increasing access to art will inspire, educate, and transform lives."
Noah Davis, Pueblo del Rio: Arabesque, 2014
Noah Davis, Pueblo del Rio: Arabesque, 2014. Miguel Pimentel © The Estate of Noah Davis. Courtesy The Estate of Noah Davis and David Zwirner


Noah Davis, Painting for My Dad, 2011
Noah Davis, Painting for My Dad, 2011. Rubell Museum © The Estate of Noah Davis. Courtesy The Estate of Noah Davis and David Zwirner
Noah Davis, The Year of the Coxswain, 2009
Noah Davis, The Year of the Coxswain, 2009. Studio Museum in Harlem; Geschenk von Martin und Rebecca Eisenberg © The Estate of Noah Davis. Courtesy The Estate of Noah Davis und David Zwirner

Davis's interest in Black life came on the heels of his profound knowledge of art history, as he was able to skillfully apply different historical references to his unique vision. The blend of abstraction and figuration, visible in his sometimes offhand treatment of backgrounds and watery layers of colour that drip and smear while realist figures defy them resolutely, establish a clear link to the figurations of the inter- and post-war period such as Neue Sachlichkeit and Leipziger Schule. At the same time, dream-scapes and surreal elements join in, bringing other painterly traditions, such as Magical realism, into the dialogue as well.

Leaning on the canon but bringing profoundly new visions of Black everyday life to it, Davis relied on photographs to sieve through motifs and was inspired by shots taken by his mother, Faith Childs-Davis, in the 1970s, when she was a teenager in Chicago, as well as those taken by his wife Karon in Los Angeles. Derived from these shots, public swimming pools and Pueblo del Rio roofs add an element of concrete reality to his often transcendental representations. The figures, however, remain conditioned by a sense of collectivity and are committed to it.

Noah Davis, Single Mother with Father Out of the Picture, 2007–2008
Noah Davis, Single Mother with Father Out of the Picture, 2007–2008. Privatsammlung © The Estate of Noah Davis. Courtesy The Estate of Noah Davis und David Zwirner
Noah Davis - Public Art Sculpture, 2014
Noah Davis - Public Art Sculpture, 2014. © The Estate of Noah Davis. Courtesy The Estate of Noah Davis und David Zwirner


Impacting All Cultures

A solitary, frail figure holds a lantern in one hand while looking out of a cavern at night. The sky is strewn with stars, but the figure's expression is hidden as its back is turned to the viewers. The title, Painting for My Dad (2011), reveals who the figure might be, as Davis's father died a few years prior to his son. It is rare among Davis's paintings for figures to be directly attributed; in most cases, they are not, and even their faces are often given treatment that hides their identity—they are in shadows or obfuscated by paint. Like his palette that awaits to break through, Davis's politics of representation renders his figures unknowable, as 'negated portraiture' in Okwui Enwezor's words, that brings universalism through withdrawal. This universalism, however, brims with agency.

The collective identity overtakes individualism, as another ironic statement against the white, highly individualistic Western portraiture Davis was well familiar with. By combining expressionism and figuration, he found a way of moving forward beyond the prescriptions that guided art for centuries. This push for collectivity and collective action was also highlighted in his Underground Museum in the working-class Arlington Heights in Los Angeles that operated until 2022, where some leading artists showed their work (among them are John Legend, Solange, and Deana Lawson). "I like the idea of bringing a high-end gallery into a place that has no cultural outlets within walking distance," explained Davis to Art in America magazine.

Even in his hospital bed, Davis continued to work incessantly. He prepared plans for 18 exhibitions to be shown in the museum, following the already planned Non-Fiction in collaboration with LA MoCA and its curator, Helen Molesworth, and Artists of Color. Molesworth later described Davis as "a master of sophisticated compositions," whose paintings are about "blackness and the history of Western painting," influenced by artists such as Marlene Dumas, Mark Rothko, Luc Tuymans, and Fairfield Porter.

From his early attempts at painting and education at Cooper Union School of Art in New York to Los Angeles, where he moved in 2004, Davis navigated art canon and Black mundane topics with assured gesture, exploring three dimensionality and the flatness of the canvas, fantasy and reality, in his recognizable dry paint style. His moody palette as well as his figures announce what is yet to fully come—a re-insertion of the Black figure in the Western canon. However, this was not his primary goal. His legacy, as he explained, should be art that is accessible to all and that affects all cultures.

"I believe that concealing too much in theory is problematic and that art can function in every day life. I strive for an artistic legacy that not only transcends blackness but confluences and impacts all cultures."

The largest institutional survey of the late artist Noah Davis (1983-2015) is on view at DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam until January 5th, 2025. This traveling exhibit will be subsequently presented at the Barbican in London and the Hammer Museum in LA.

Noah Davis, The Missing Link 4, 2013
Noah Davis, The Missing Link 4, 2013. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Purchased with funds provided by AHAN: Studio Forum, 2013 Art Here and Now purchase. © The Estate of Noah Davis. Courtesy The Estate of Noah Davis and David Zwirner


Noah Davis, Mary Jane, 2008
Noah Davis, Mary Jane, 2008. © The Estate of Noah Davis. Courtesy The Estate of Noah Davis and David Zwirner
Noah Davis, 40 Acres and a Unicorn, 2007
Noah Davis, 40 Acres and a Unicorn, 2007. © The Estate of Noah Davis. Courtesy The Estate of Noah Davis und David Zwirner