A suite of eight paintings by Ian Davis revolves around themes of environmental extraction, natural disaster and dystopia. These works explore the thresholds between event and response, depicting monumental scenes where human labour and infrastructure intersect, charging ordinary environments with apocalyptic tension. Here, a sense of meticulously depicted order and precision becomes foreboding: a spiral staircase leads to an unseen formal event, and vast industrial scenery is occasionally dotted with human figures, dwarfed in scale by comparison both to the daunting, communal task at hand and the towering gaseous emissions that surround them.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Ian Davis (b. 1972, Indianapolis) is an artist based in Los Angeles. Painted with intricate precision, his works often chronicle vast industrial landscapes and moments of human gathering, seemingly just before or after a mysterious and uncanny event. Throughout his work, the tension and ambiguity of these pre- and post-apocalyptic situations is always palpable. Solo exhibitions include GOD’S EYE VIEW, Nicodim, Los Angeles (2025); The Mass Ornament, Galerie Judin, Berlin (2022); 2nd Dark Age, Night Gallery, Los Angeles (2018). Group exhibitions include Ian Davis and Yoora Lee: An Installation of New and Recent Work, Nicodim, New York (2024); Liminal Spaces, Galerie Isa, Mumbai (2022); Time Takes a Cigarette, Josh Lilley Gallery, London (2021).
EXHIBITED WORKS
Left to right:
an Davis (b. 1972)
Refuge, 2024
Acrylic on panel
50.8 × 40.6 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Nicodim Gallery
Ian Davis (b. 1972)
Copper Mine, 2025
Acrylic on panel
61 × 45.7 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Nicodim Gallery
Ian Davis (b. 1972)
Waiters, 2025
Acrylic on panel
61 × 50.8 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Nicodim Gallery
Ian Davis (b. 1972)
Oil Tankers, 2018
Acrylic on linen
167.6 × 152.4 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Nicodim Gallery
Ian Davis (b. 1972)
Auditors, 2023
Acrylic on panel
86 × 76 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Judin
Ian Davis (b. 1972)
Lustration, 2025
Acrylic on wood panel
101.5 × 91.5 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Nicodim Gallery
Ian Davis (b. 1972)
Acolytes, 2024
Acrylic on linen
139.7 × 127 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Nicodim Gallery
Ian Davis (b. 1972)
Prophecy, 2024
Acrylic on panel
40.6 × 30.4 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Nicodim Gallery
