Karon Davis Explained

Karon Davis
Other Names:Karon Om Vereen–Davis
Birth Name:Karon Vereen
Birth Place:Reno, Nevada, United States
Occupation:Sculptor, installation artist
Spouse:Noah Davis (m. 2008–2015; death)
Father:Ben Vereen

Karon Davis (née Karon Vereen; born 1977), is an American visual artist, and a founder of the Underground Museum in Los Angeles. She is known as a sculptor and an installation artist touching on issues of race and identity in America through representations of the human body. Her artistic practice is influenced by dance, theater, and moving image.[1]

Early life and education

Karon Vereen was born in 1977 in Reno, Nevada.[2] Daughter of professional dancers Nancy Bruner and Broadway performer Ben Vereen, Davis grew up influenced by the performing arts. Bruner retired from her ballet career to raise Karon and her three siblings.[3] [4] Her father is noted American actor, dancer, and singer, Ben Vereen.[5]

Davis attended the theater department at Spelman College and took classes at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater company before studying and graduating in film (2001) at University of Southern California's Cinematic Arts department.[6]

Career

In 2016, Karon Davis presented the solo show "Karon Davis: Pain Management" at Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles. The exhibition featured her signature plaster sculpture bodies, of adults and children, that physically take up space as a large-scale installation. The show commented on emotional experiences of loss and endured agony.[7] In 2017, Davis was the recipient of The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Grant.[8]

Davis's Mary (2016) from the Pain Management series, was presented at Prospect.5: Yesterday we said tomorrow 2020-21, the contemporary arts triennial in New Orleans, Louisiana.[9]

In 2021, Davis revealed new installations memorializing Bobby Seale and the Black Panther Party in the solo show "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" at Jeffrey Deitch gallery in New York. One of the installations consists of sandbags leaning against a wall in which a well circulated journalistic photograph of Bobby Seale, the cofounder and Panther leader. The image was taken while Seale was waiting trial during the Chicago Seven Trial event, in 1969. For the sculpture Bobby Seale and The People's Free Food Program (2020–21), a cast of Seale is surrounded by fifty bags of golden food placed on the floor. This installation was later acquired by the Pérez Art Museum Miami.[10]

In April 2023, the Hammer Museum exhibited Karon Davis: Selection from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, the collection presentation was organized by the Hammer former-chief curator Connie Butler. In November of same year, she unfolded a High Line Park commission titled Curtain Call, which runs through 2024.[11] The solo exhibition Beauty Must Suffer was on view at New York's Salon 94 gallery through December 2023, and it showcased her plaster-cast sculptures of ballerinas.[12] [13]

Underground Museum

In 2012, Karon Davis and Noah Davis co-founded the Underground Museum in Arlington Heights, a predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood in Central Los Angeles, California. The museum was a cultural hub for Black art, artists such as Henry Taylor, Lorna Simpson, Arthur Jafa, and Deana Lawson presented their work there, while musicians John Legend and Solange Knowles launched albums there.[14] [15] [16] [17]

Karon Davis presented her first institutional show "Sculptures & Photographs" for the museum inauguration.[6] In 2015, visual artist Noah Davis passed away after battling against a rare type of cancer. He was 32 years old.[18] After ten years of operations, the Underground Museum closed in March 2022.[19]

Artworks in collections

References

  1. Web site: Taft . Catherine . 2017-01-01 . Karon Davis . 2024-01-19 . Artforum . en-US.
  2. Web site: 2023-02-11 . Karon Davis: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection . 2024-01-19 . Hammer Museum . en.
  3. Web site: Artist Karon Davis Captures the Beauty, Pain, and Conformity of Ballet in an Ambitious New Exhibition . 2024-01-19 . www.culturedmag.com . en.
  4. Web site: Fontaine . Pearl . 2023-11-28 . Karon Davis Sculpts Beauty and Suffering of Ballet at Salon 94 . 2024-01-19 . Whitewall . en-US.
  5. News: D’Souza . Aruna . November 17, 2023 . With Her Dad, Ben Vereen, by Her Side, Karon Davis Turns to Dance . The New York Times.
  6. Web site: Social Studies . 2024-01-19 . Santa Barbara Magazine . en-US.
  7. Web site: Cachia . Amanda . 2016-10-05 . Karon Davis . 2024-01-19 . Artforum . en-US.
  8. Web site: February 15, 2018 . TIFFANY FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES RECIPIENTS OF 2017 BIENNIAL GRANTS . January 19, 2024 . Artforum Magazine.
  9. Web site: Karon Davis . 2024-01-19 . P.5 Yesterday We Said Tomorrow . en-US.
  10. Web site: Smith . Melissa . 2021-03-15 . How Artist Karon Davis's Tour-de-Force Portrayal of Black Panther Leader Bobby Seale Reveals a Cruel Blind Spot of American History . 2024-01-19 . Artnet News . en-US.
  11. Web site: Curtain Call . 2024-01-19 . The High Line . en-US.
  12. Web site: Manno . Olivia . 2023-11-22 . Artist Karon Davis’ New Exhibition Grapples With the Physicality and Grit of Ballet . 2024-01-19 . Dance Magazine . en-US.
  13. News: Hessel . Katy . 2023-12-11 . ‘Beauty must suffer’: the artist lifting the barre on ballet . 2024-01-19 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  14. News: Pogrebin . Robin . March 31, 2021 . After Reflected Fame, the Artist Karon Davis Steps Into Her Own Light . . 0362-4331.
  15. Web site: 2017-11-08 . How an L.A. Storefront Became a Modern-Day Salon For Beyoncé and Barry Jenkins . 2024-01-19 . W Magazine . en.
  16. Web site: 2018-04-19 . Karon Davis Is Creating an Underground Art Oasis in the Heart of L.A. . 2024-01-19 . Bon Appétit . en-US.
  17. Web site: Waddoups . Ryan . 2021-04-07 . How Karon Davis Creates Unseen Images of Black Americans . 2024-01-19 . SURFACE . en-US.
  18. Web site: 2016-09-30 . Karon Davis' 'Pain Management' plumbs loss and love in a tribute to her late husband, Noah Davis . 2024-01-19 . Los Angeles Times . en-US.
  19. News: Small . Zachary . March 19, 2022 . Underground Museum in Los Angeles Has Closed . The New York Times.
  20. Web site: Bobby Seale and The People's Free Food Program . 2023-08-16 . Pérez Art Museum Miami . en-US.
  21. Web site: Karon Davis . 2024-01-19 . Rubell Museum.
  22. Web site: Karon Davis . 2024-01-19 . The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation . en-US.
  23. Web site: Brooklyn Museum . 2024-01-19 . www.brooklynmuseum.org.

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