The Philadelphia Art Museum has opened a new exhibition surveying the career of the late American artist Noah Davis, featuring over 60 works from 2007 to his death in 2015. The show, curated by Eleanor Nairne and Wells Fray-Smith, is the final stop of an international tour organized with DAS MINSK in Potsdam, the Barbican in London, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. It includes paintings, sculptures, and works on paper that chronologically map Davis's multimedia practice, with a final room dedicated to his last three paintings.
This exhibition matters because it brings Davis's tender and nuanced depictions of Black life to Philadelphia, highlighting his ability to address politics, family histories, and race through personal and collective narratives. The show underscores Davis's belief that art should be accessible to all, a principle he enacted by co-founding the Underground Museum in 2012. Curator Nairne emphasizes the work's potency and the deep resonance it has with modern times, making this a significant cultural moment for the city.