| PURVIS YOUNG |
Born in Miami in 1943, Purvis Young is a self-taught artist. He began to draw in earnest while serving time for armed robbery at Raiford State Prison in Starke, Florida. Seeking to salvage his life after being released, Young discovered art as his saving grace, and began making large mural-like paintings on plywood nailed to the exteriors of abandoned buildings in the Overtown ghetto, where he has lived and worked for over 35 years. Among his solo shows have been Purvis Young: The Life I See, held at the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach (2002-03), and Purvis Young: Paintings from the Street, shown at the Boca Raton Museum of Art (2006). Young’s work is preserved in numerous public collections, including the American Folk Art Museum, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Young’s expressive, semi-abstract art tells the story of his own community in the inner city. Painting on discarded doors, scrap wood, cardboard boxes, and paper from old books or discarded documents, he has created his own iconography of black figures with arms reaching up to the sky, parades, funeral processions, looming buildings, and trains which promise freedom and escape. His colorful, lively compositions are painted with a fierce energy and economy of means which express his own passion and speak directly to the heart.
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