Judith Benhamou-Huet Visits The Underground Museum in Los Angeles

The thing is that behind one of these sad-looking houses is a new museum, the Underground museum. It could almost pass by unnoticed were it not for a sign saying “don’t write on our walls, we can sell your work.”

It was founded by Noah Davis, an artist who died of cancer at the age of 32 in 2015. Before he passed away he had a dream of bringing art—real art—to his community. He came up with no fewer than 18 exhibitions ideas, which are being realized today thanks to the work of his widow Karon Davis, his brother Kahlil Joseph (known, among other things, for his work on a Beyonce music video) and MOCA, Los Angeles, particularly its director Philippe Vergne.

“Non Fiction” is the second exhibition envisioned by Noah Davis following the show devoted to South Africa’s William Kentridge. It will be up for a year, until May 2017.

The exhibition credits would not be out of place in the top contemporary art museums. It contains few works but by such remarkable artists as Robert Gober (who had a retrospective at MoMA in New York recently), David Hammons (a New Yorker known for his freedom and for thumbing his nose at the system, and who figures in the collection of Francois Pinault among others), Kerry James Marshall (who will have an exhibition at the Met Breuer in New York from 25 October) and Kara Walker (one of the superstars of American art known for confronting the issue of slavery).

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