The Philadelphia Art Museum (PAM) has opened "Noah Davis," the first solo retrospective of the late Los Angeles–based painter, who died at age 32 from a rare cancer. Davis's career spanned only six years, beginning with his first solo show at Tilton Gallery in New York in 2009. The exhibition, which originated at the Barbican in London, is the fourth and final stop of an international tour and the only North American venue. It features Davis's large-scale, abstract figurative paintings of Black life, including works like "You Are..." (2012) and "Untitled" (2015), and highlights his use of chemical solvents to degrade paint surfaces. The show also explores his role as founder of the Underground Museum in Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, a community-focused space where he once displayed fakes as "Imitations of Wealth."
This retrospective matters because it solidifies Noah Davis's legacy as a significant, albeit short-lived, voice in contemporary American painting, known for blending dreamy figuration with social commentary on Black identity and cultural history. The exhibition arrives at a time when PAM has been "roiled by internal friction" involving its board, former CEO, and executive staff departures, yet it demonstrates the museum's continued commitment to ambitious programming. Curator Eleanor Nairne's framing of Davis's work—as both familiar and uncanny—underscores the artist's unique ability to capture the complexities of Black experience, making this show a critical moment for both the artist's posthumous recognition and the museum's institutional resilience.