Skip to main content

Moyra Davey

Fascinated by scenes of everyday life, Moyra Davey creates works across a variety of mediums, including films, essays, and photography. Davey's art delves into the quiet beauty and melancholy of seemingly banal images, elevating the mundane. Many of her photographs are marked with creases and dust, suggesting that the life of the object is as critical as the subject captured. Her Copperhead series (1990) features Lincoln's profile from one hundred coins, capturing each divet, depth, and detail.

In addition to notable exhibitions such as the 2012 Whitney Biennial and the Sao Paulo Biennial, Davey's work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among many others.
Born 1958
Hometown Toronto, Canada
Lives and Works New York, NY
Education
MFA, University of California, San Diego, CA, 1988
BFA, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, 1982
Permanent Collection

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Tate Modern, London, England
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Foundation 20/21, New York, NY
Smith College Museum of Art, Northhampton, MA
Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
The National Gallery of Art, WA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
The Art Gallery of Ontario, Ottawa, Canada

Representing Galleries

Murray Gay, New York, NY

SHOWS

Callicoon Fine Arts

New York
Jan 12 2017 - Feb 19 2017

Compassionate Protocols

Murray Guy

New York
Jan 10 2017 - Feb 04 2017

FIONA BANNER, MATTHEW BUCKINGHAM, FRANCIS CAPE, and others

Murray Guy

New York
Nov 03 2016 - Dec 17 2016

WHATEVER MOVES BETWEEN US ALSO MOVES THE WORLD IN GENERAL

Murray Guy

New York
Apr 16 2016 - May 21 2016

7 Albums

Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia
Sep 19 2014 - Dec 28 2014

Moyra Davey: Burn the Diaries
View More

Articles

The Art Space Group Show: Red
The Art Space Group Show: Red

It’s the color of love in our hearts and the blood in our veins, the perfection of nature and the imperfections of politics. These pulse-quickening scarlets, crimsons and vermilions are so richly resonant

Tales from the Crypt: Ancient Artworks from the Met
Tales from the Crypt: Ancient Artworks from the Met

Sarah Sze, Tom Sachs, Vik Muniz and others discuss out-of-the-crypt artworks from the Met's collection and the surprising, unexpected influences those pieces have had on their own work.

Chris Kraus on the Ambiguous Worth of Art School
Chris Kraus on the Ambiguous Worth of Art School

In an essay excerpted from the new book Akademie X: Lessons in Art + Life, the renowned novelist and critic considers the kind of artists that grad schools generate.

A Genealogy of Artists & Their Assistants
A Genealogy of Artists & Their Assistants

Who knew? Barnaby Furnas worked for Carroll Dunham, who worked for Dorothea Rockburne, who worked for Robert Rauschenberg. Our discoveries may surprise you.

10 Career-Boosting Artist Residencies to Know
10 Career-Boosting Artist Residencies to Know

From The Land in rural Thailand to the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, these are a few influential international programs that collectors would be wise to look for on artists' CVs.

View More