NOAH DAVIS

Early Years

Noah Davis was born in Seattle in 1983—by the age of 17, he had already established a studio and a painting practice. He studied at the Cooper Union in New York City, but did not graduate, moving to Los Angeles in 2004. His work was featured in the huge touring exhibition 30 Americans from the Rubell Family Collection, which travelled the United States from 2008 to 2022. He married fellow artist Karon Davis in 2008.

Noah Davis: Artworks

Noah Davis created scenes of Black life, taking inspiration from literature, pop culture, real life and old photographs. While he painted many human figures, his artwork also embraced abstraction: people with no mouths; blurred or roughly painted figures alongside complete bodies. Although he used a limited colour palette, his work evoked mood and feeling highly effectively. During his too-brief career (he died of a rare cancer in 2015), Davis produced almost 400 paintings.

• The Year of the Coxswain (1989) is a great example of Davis’ blend of the figurative and the abstract: five visible Black men are carrying a rowing boat, while the landscape around them is rendered with swirly, drippy gestures. There’s a figure in black at the side of the path—their presence asks viewers to question whether the image is actually about death and whether the boat is a coffin.
• The 1975 series (2013) was inspired by Davis’ mum’s high school photographs. In the work 1975 (8) (2013) the viewer sees a public swimming pool from a semi-elevated point of view. A boy is diving into the water (an almost-solid block of teal blue, with only minimal detailing); the soles of his feet are strikingly bereft of colour.
• The Underground Museum’s 2013 exhibition Imitation of Wealth included re-creations of works including Jeff Koons’ New Hoover Convertibles (1981–1987) plus fluorescent lights as used by Dan Flavin’s fluorescent lights and Robert Smithson’s dirt and a mirror. This came about because, when Noah and Karon Davis were looking for pieces to go on display at The Underground Museum, institutions were less than positive about agreeing to loan artworks.

Noah Davis: Select Exhibitions

Select Solo Exhibitions

• Noah Davis: Ancient Reign (curated by Karon Davis), David Zwirner, New York City (2024)
• Noah Davis, Das Minsk Kunsthaus, Potsdam (2024) (and touring)
• Noah Davis, David Zwirner, London (2021)
• Noah Davis, David Zwirner, New York City (2020) (and touring)
• Noah Davis: 1975 Paintings, Rebuild Foundation, Chicago (2016)
• storefront: Noah Davis: Imitation of Wealth, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2015)
• Noah Davis: Garden City, Papillon, Los Angeles (2014)
• Noah Davis: Imitation of Wealth, The Underground Museum, Los Angeles (2013)
• Noah Davis: The Missing Link, Roberts and Tilton, Culver City (2013)
• Noah Davis: Savage Wilds, James Harris Gallery, Seattle (2012)
• Noah Davis, Tilton Gallery, New York City (2011)
• Noah Davis: The Forgotten Works, Roberts and Tilton, Culver City (2010)
• Noah Davis: More Paintings, Galerie Annarumma 404, Naples (2010)
• Noah Davis, James Harris Gallery, Seattle (2010)
• Noah Davis, Tilton Gallery, New York City (2009)
• Noah Davis: Nobody, Roberts and Tilton, Culver City (2008)

Select Group Exhibitions

• California Light and Space (The 21st Century Version), David Zwirner, Los Angeles (2026)
• Destiny is a Rose: The Eileen Harris Norton Collection, Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles (2026)
• Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments, Philadelphia Museum of Art (2026)
• Everything Now All At Once, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham (2024)
• The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, National Portrait Gallery, London (2024) (and touring)
• 59th Venice Biennale: The Milk of Dreams (2022)
• 20/20: A 20th Anniversary Survey, James Harris Gallery, Seattle (2019)
• Artists of Colour, The Underground Museum, Los Angeles (2017)
• Young Blood: Noah Davis, Kahlil Joseph, The Underground Museum, Frye Art Museum, Seattle (2016)
• Black: Colour, Material, Concept, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City (2015)
• Re-animators, Meulensteen, New York City (2012)
• Stranger Than Fiction: Narrative in Works by Selected Contemporary Artists, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (2010)
• 30 Americans: Rubell Family Collection, Rubell Family Collection, Miami (2008) (and touring)
• Face Forward, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York City (2008)

Further Reading

• Obituary in The New York Times (2015)
• 2026 profile and exhibition review in The New Yorker
• Exhibition review from The Observer (2025)
• Artist profile page at David Zwirner

Noah Davis FAQs

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