Purvis Young died in 2010 at age 67 but he’s undergoing a Renaissance right now.
His painting was on the cover of David Byrne’s “American Utopia.” He’s collected by Lenny Kravitz, Damon Wayans, Dan Aykroyd, and even Jane Fonda, among others.
Young’s work hangs in The Met, the Pompidou Centre, the Whitney, LACMA, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
This is all from a Miami kid who served three years (1961–64) in prison at North Florida’s Raiford State Penitentiary for breaking and entering. It was there that he found his way into art. When he was released, Young moved into vibrant Overtown in Miami — where so many great talents come from — and produce thousands of small drawings, which he kept in shopping carts and later glued into discarded books and magazines that he found on the streets.
From now through the weekend, Young’s work on display (and may be sold out) here in New York at One Art Space on Warren Street in Tribeca. The exhibit is curated by MaryAnn Giella McCulloh. A-listers have been climbing over snow drifts to see Young’s work in New York.
