It wasn’t the California wildfires that closed down the Underground Museum in Los Angeles; it was grief. In a heartbreaking announcement posted on the museum’s website this past January, the artist Karon Davis, Noah Davis’ wife, explained why her family closed the art space the couple founded in 2012. Her husband passed away from cancer in 2015, Karon’s note explained, and the family needed more time to deal with their pain. The Underground Museum, already sorely missed, was a realization of Noah Davis’ intent. The U.K.’s first retrospective of his artwork, titled simply “Noah Davis” at London’s Barbican Art Gallery, provides a moving insight into the workings of both intent and institution.