Untitled, 1985 – 99
Paint on wood
Purvis Young

“Self – taught artist Purvis Young created work that captured life in Overtown in inner-city Miami.  An interstate highway built over Overtown in the 1960s drove out many of the once – thriving area’s African American – run businesses and inhabitants.  Young opted to stay, painting his vision of his community directly on the walls of abandoned buildings and the alley where he made his home.  He also painted on found materials like this tabletop.  A red column near its center suggests a figure, while the jumbled high-rises evoke the disorienting nature of urban life.”

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