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Category: In Memory Of
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Published on Monday, 12 October 2015 14:57
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Written by Renee Montgomery
Following a long battle with a rare form of cancer, local art leader Noah Davis has succumbed to the illness at age 32. Passing away at his home in Ojai on August 29th, Davis is survived by his wife Karon Davis and their five-year-old son. Artist Noah Davis' Underground Museum was reported on twice by TNN since its inception in 2012 as a series of storefronts at 3508 W. Washington Blvd. Davis is credited with pulling off his dream of creating a non-profit art space with galleries, a library, an outdoor plaza and a performance space, specifically targeted to a working-class area of Los Angeles devoid of cultural outlets within walking distance. In fact, a recent exhibition at the Bruce High Quality Foundation, University Gallery in New York was devoted to The Underground Museum as a subject in itself.
In our last issue, TNN reported on a new partnership between the Underground Museum and the Museum of Contemporary comprising a series of exhibitions, each revolving around an artwork(s) from the downtown museum's permanent collection. MOCA has confirmed that this arrangement will continue with the participation of Karon Davis and Davis' brother Kahlil Joseph, a noted filmmaker and video artist in his own right.A Seattle native, Davis attended Cooper Union College in New York and was quickly recognized as a noteworthy artist, including by Robert + Tilton Gallery in Culver City, which represented him for five years. An evocative painter and installation artist, Davis figured in the collections of Studio Museum of Harlem, the Nasher Museum in North Carolina and the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, which is currently traveling works to the Corcoran Gallery and the Detroit Institute of Art.
Davis' death was reported as widely as the New York Times and the international journal Art News.