Purvis young artnet
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Purvis Young was a self taught African American artist from the Overtown neighborhood of Miami, Florida. He addressed social issues in his expressive collages and paintings created on found objects. Through his art, he wanted to “paint the truth” by addressing issues of racism, poverty, and suffering. His goal was to create harmony. He said, “I’d just like to see peace. Then maybe I’d [take] my brush and throw it away.”
A number of recurring symbols appear throughout Young’s work that express his thoughts and feelings about his life and community. He said “I found out, I could tell a story with my artwork.” In his paintings, you can see depictions of churches and people with raised arms to express faith, hope, and redemption. Other symbols that appear frequently in his work are: padlocks representing being imprisoned or struggling; boats serving as a metaphor for escaping from racism and suffering, wild horses illustrating freedom; trucks, trains, and railroad tracks suggesting movement, migration, and possibility; and angels
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Purvis Young
Upon his release, he studied works by Rembrandt, Gaugin, Van Gogh, and Cezanne, and created thousands of small drawings. He also found inspiration in mural movements in Detroit and Chicago as well as Vietnam War demonstrations.
Beginning in the 1970s, Young began to paint on discarded pieces of plywood, nailing them to boarded up storefronts to create a mural-effect. He drew recurring motifs—angels, ancestors, refugees, prisoners, and soldiers from his immediate environment and the histories of those around him. While some pieces of his murals occasionally disappeared, Young saw this as part of the process: “I knowed when I was making the art that one day it was going to go. Nothing’s going to last forever.”1 His installations received media attention and art world acclaim and, subsequently, Young’s work appeared in local libraries and galleries. They also gained him the attention of Bernard Davis, owner of the Miami Museum of Modern Art, who went on to become Young’s patron. The artist continued to create murals in the 1990s and 2000s, finding inspiration in
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Purvis Young
American painter
Purvis Young | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1943-02-02)February 2, 1943 Liberty City, Florida |
| Died | April 20, 2010(2010-04-20) (aged 67) Miami, Florida |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Contemporary art, art brut, urban art, painting, installation art |
| Awards | Artists/Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts |
| Patron(s) | Jane Fonda, Damon Wayans, Jim Belushi, Dan Aykroyd |
| Website | Official website |
Purvis Young (February 4, 1943 – April 20, 2010) was an American artist of Bahamian descent.[1] Young's work is celebrated at the museum and institutional level while also finding a home in many private collections as well, with a following that included Brice Marden, Jane Fonda, Damon Wayans, Jim Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and others. In 2006 a feature documentary titled Purvis of Overtown was produced about his life and work.[2] His work is found in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Centre Pompidou, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Pérez Art Mus
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