PURVIS YOUNG
April 26 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm CDT
In conjunction with Mana Contemporary Chicago Spring Open Studios, Saturday April 26, 2-6PM:
Monira Foundation presents: PURVIS YOUNG, an exhibition of over 50 works of art (mid 80’s to early 90’s) by the self taught artist born Miami, FL 1943 – died Miami, FL 2010
Purvis Young painted on scrap lumber and plywood that he scavenged from the streets and vacant lots of Overtown, the historically black neighborhood where he lived in Miami, Florida, and whose long deterioration he had witnessed. He sometimes depicted his surroundings literally, but in this work he painted what he saw with his “inner eyes”—and transcends the misery that surrounded him.
Young had pursued a keen interest in art by studying books in his local libraries. When he began painting, he was inspired by the popular mural movement of the 1960s. He hung his paintings of tenement life and animals on the exterior walls of abandoned buildings in his neighborhood.
