Noah Davis “Birch Trees” “Isis” “The Conductor” “The Future’s Future” Venice Biennale Art Exhibition

The works of Noah Davis (1983-2015 USA) are exhibited in the Corderie of the Arsenal in Venice.

Noah Davis' works reflect the sadness and hopes of African Americans marked by the injustices endured despite the abolition of slavery.

“Birch Trees” depicts the black silhouette lying on the ground; he raises his head to look at the birch trunks clutched around him like bars.

These birch trunks are so many blows inflicted on this man because the painting probably alludes to the expression “to get the birch,” which means “to receive the whip”.

“Isis” is an elegant portrait of Noah Davis' wife, Karon, who stands between two large yellow fans.

The unusual figure of this winged goddess sheds a light that detaches her from the banality of the things that surround her: a tree branch in front of the grey wooden wall of the house, a box lying next to an old appliance.

Isis, the faithful and devoted wife of Osiris to whom she gave her life back: Isis the Magician.

“The Conductor”
An astonishing image of a conductor elegantly dressed in a crow's tail outfit conducting an invisible orchestra.

He is alone, perched on an orange armchair, and he waves his baton, casting his shadow on the wall of a sad little house without windows, utterly foreign to the prestigious world of the great orchestras.

And we realize that the shadow perched on the second armchair perfectly follows the vertical of the body and the horizontal of the baton in parallel with the body and the baton of the conductor, and we imagine his orchestra placed between him and us, playing music that brings joy to the inhabitants of this kind of prison.

“The Future's Future”
The autonomy of a free man mastering a sophisticated machine placed on a surface at the edge of a dense forest.

Noah Davis, Birch Trees

Noah Davis, Isis

Noah Davis, The Conductor

Noah Davis, The Future's Future