“Noah is my Osiris. He will live forever through his work. My mission is to collect these parts of my love and protect them. The show is on Das Minsk on Potsdam (September 7, 2024-2025 After debuting on January 5, 2025, it will be headed to the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles in the summer (June 8-August 31, 2025). This major tour brings about sixty pieces together, covering artists The complete work, providing the first and most comprehensive overview of Davis’ profoundly imaginative practice as a world architect, is a man who never stops questioning the reality around him.
Last month, David Zwirner’s upper East Side hosted a unique tribute to Noah Davis’ extraordinary work, which has gone through his lifetime Watch the footage of the partner widow and artist Karon. Meanwhile, she has taken center stage in the Metropolitan Museum performances at the same time as the show. The symbol of her long-term involvement with her husband.
exist The Resurrection of OsirisKaron Davis tracks the story of the murder and resurrection of the Egyptian god Osiris, a myth that is the basis of ancient Egyptian customs of mummification and embalming, which is the lasting in her work Theme. Her fascination with these rituals stems from preserving memories, remembering loss and sticking to the past. Quotations to ancient Egypt (especially its symbols and their impact on black culture) and the history of civilization, through her practice threads, also emerged in the paintings of Noah Davis, including on Zwirner , thus deepening the connection between its artistic languages.
After an inspiring but profound solo exhibition in the Metropolitan Pyramids and her memorable performance in the Metropolitan Pyramids, Observer talks about the resonance between her practice and her husband – The exhibition allows her to explore and amplify more deeply than ever.
Noah Davis died prematurely from a rare form of cancer, becoming a legend in contemporary art. Not only is he a talented painter able to capture the layered reality of Black life with amazing depth, he can also co-founder of the Los Angeles Underground Museum with Karon Davis. The institution quickly became a groundbreaking force dedicated to amplifying a variety of voices and challenging traditional hierarchies in the art world. The couple worked together throughout their lives to blend their artistic practices with radical spirits to mask lasting imprints through the process of fostering creativity, building communities and shaping contemporary black culture.
When New Yorker Karon Davis was an assistant film director in Los Angeles, the two met, and they married in 2008 at Miami Courthouse in Art Basel. “30 Americans.” From that moment on, their lives and artistic paths became inseparable, and their relationships shape and fuel the trajectory of their creative legacy.
“Ancient Domination” closed at Zwirner in late January, providing a rare, private sight to Noah Davis’ formative collage and works on paper, with two paintings. “It’s important to me to share this side of Noah. He’s famous for painting, but they just scratch the surface,” said Karon Davis. “He is a manufacturer of … objects and the world. These works have never been seen before, so I hope it will give people an idea of the multidisciplinary artists and visionary people he once was.”
The collage chosen by Karon Davis completely contains juxtaposed powers, layered sources and symbols to reveal hidden correspondences and activate new meanings. Time, space and different cultures collide and collapse within the scope of these multi-layer compositions, usually in a deep black background, suggesting forgetting and imposed entire historical erases. These tradeoffs, synchronized combinations, feature elements of various art history and visual cultures, hanging in an instantly eternal and stable space.
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Although they may seem improvised, each juxtaposition is intentional, playing unexpected meanings in the dialectical tension between the elements. As curator Franklin Sirmans describes: “The character of Davis’s work is its possibilities… [They] Explanation is acceptable based on the history or luggage we bring. ”
Among the works of “Ancient Domination”, there are several collages that quote Egyptian mythology and portraits, a persistent shared fascination between the two artists. “I’m studying ancient myths and history,” Karon Davis said. “Noah joined these journeys through history. Their home became a portal through which wildness can be achieved. She added: “We exchanged stories, dreams and techniques for creating art. ” She reflects on the constant creative dialogue that shapes and enriches them both.
exist Untitled (2015), Noah Davis juxtaposes the foundations of Egyptian sculpture with the iconic image of Princess Diana of Wales, transforming her into a sphinx and creating a Visually parallel, cleverly invites the critical and political interpretation levels. Similarly, in another work, Davis positioned the image of Egyptian sculpture on another photo of the modern Royal Monaco princess (1929-1982), both opposite to the abstract color fields of vibrant gestures. .
Noah Davis’s entire work created in 2010 is also subject to the myth of ISIS and Osiris, combining modern images and recent black history with Egyptian art and Inspiration mentioned by society.
“This work is much closer to me,” Karon Davis refers to collage. “Some of the works give the audience the opportunity to delve into his world-building process. Some of them are sketches of his paintings. Others are visual boards for the underground museums we discuss in the future or the space we discuss.”
These revelatory basic works on the Zwirner show are accompanied by limited painting choices, which further understands the relationship between the images and the original material that shapes Davis’s artistic practice. Among them, a group of paintings on the third floor repeats the same scene in a evocative fusion of realism and abstraction, as the numbers fade away, gradually fade out of spectral shadows from the history of images, or intentional omissions or certain sounds irreproven erasure.
“I’m all close to them. I’m watching their birth. It’s worth noting that in 2016, her show “Pain Management” on Wilding Cran Gallery in Los Angeles, Noah Davis urged her to die before her death The work that ended soon. This work is considered a fusion of caregivers for cancer treatment, one of many projects the couple has developed together over the years, and their practices are constantly intertwined through intimate thoughts and contributions.
Nevertheless, as she explained, he left a special place in the book he created for the Underground Museum. “This book is one of the blueprints he left for me. I often mention it when making decisions about gardens and buildings.” The Underground Museum officially opened in 2012 in partnership with MOCA and was conceived as a revitalization of Ahling, Los Angeles. A space for underserved working-class communities in the Dun Heights. Ten years later, the museum was unexpectedly closed in 2022 after its directors left.
In the weaving of ongoing stories, ideas and emotions through image sharing, Noah Davis’ art remains Karon, a bridge to the husband’s legacy, a kind of continuous development through oneself practice to promote and cultivate their shared vision and inspiration.
Noah Davis’ biggest survey to date is in the Barbican Center in London until May 11, 2025.
