Exhibition

Exploring The Art Of Noah Davis: Where Tenderness Meets Vibrant Imagination

Noah Davis "1975"

I had the tremendous privilege of visiting the biggest Noah Davis retrospective at its debut at DAS MINSK, Potsdam (2024/2025). It has since travelled to the Barbican, London (February-May 2025) and will eventually land in L.A. this week where Noah Davis was primarily based and carried out his broader art access and community building projects.

Noah Davis’ work carves out attention to our layered existence and some of his work teeters between the real and dream states, coalescing in the liminal zone. In his hands ordinary moments were elevated-made meaningful , made sacred in their simplicity.

Some of his inspiration for his paintings comes from his archive of family photographs, for example the incredible "1975" series.

Davis said himself, he wanted to “take anonymous moments and make them permanent”. He did this remarkably so and left a legacy of personal and cultural memory.

One of the portraits that transformed me is that of the two women -one slouched on the arm rest and the other half-sprawled on a couch, shoes kicked off, and caught in a moment of pause. This image gathered the restless parts of me that forgot how to be still, and begged me to rest.

I sat in silence as long as I could.

Noah Davis "Untitled 2015"

When I experienced Noah Davis’ work, I experienced a man that has squeezed the breadth of his life. Although he is renowned for his paintings, he rejected being restricted to a single medium; thus his artistic endeavours offered us his diverse interests and allow us to linger in his eclectic unlimited expanse.

I can’t help but be obsessed with how he lived to ruffle things up- what this blog stands for. He brought creativity, boldness, disruption and purpose to life.

Relentless creator Noah Davis continued to create collage work from his hospital beds, some of which he gifted to friends and family.

His passing was untimely at 32 years old due to a rare form of cancer.

This exhibition presents over 50 of Davis’ works in painting, sculpture, and collage, dating from 2007 to 2015, the last years of his life.

The works are deeply evocative and if you find yourself in L.A. this will be the exhibition to visit this summer.

8 June - 31 August 2025

HAMMER MUSEUM

10899 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles90024