Purvis Young Mural at the Culmer/Overtown Branch Library

Purvis Young (1943 – 2010) was a self-taught American artist who used objects found on the street to describe his experiences in life. In 1971, he began following the mural movement that was popular in Chicago and Detroit. He drew paintings and nailed them to boarded-up storefronts. His work began to draw a following, and tourists would purchase his paintings. Young’s works can be seen in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., as well as in many private collections.

Young spent hours reading books about art in public libraries, so when he started making his vibrant paintings it seemed only fitting that he should create works for Miami-Dade’s public libraries. On January 31, 1984 Young unveiled “Everyday Life,” painted on the exterior of the Culmer Overtown Library. 

Young did a bit of restorative work on the mural in 1991. Restored again in 2012, “Everyday Life” is today an iconic work of public art in Miami-Dade County. Purvis Young also painted a mural inside the “old” County Library in Bayfront Park. You can watch a WPLG story about that project at //youtu.be/3UhslVM00kg 

This video and audio is copyrighted/owned by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at Miami Dade College.

From the Greater Miami Convention & Visitor Bureau:

“Born in Miami’s Liberty City in 1943, Young had a difficult upbringing. As a teenager in the 1960s, he dropped out of school and ended up in North Florida’s Raiford State Penitentiary for three years on breaking and entering charges. It was in prison, though, where Young began drawing and reading art books, influenced by Chicago and Detroit’s mural artists. In 1971, he arrived in Overtown and began painting scenes inspired by life on the streets and his daily observations. “I ain’t got time to criticize the system too much,” he said in the 2006 documentary film Purvis of Overtown. “But I paint what I see.”

….Young has cited the works of Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Gauguin, El Greco and Picasso amongst his influences. His work has been compared to contemporaries Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, yet he never gained the recognition of these artists due to his near anonymity in Overtown.

He worked with found materials like scrap wood and cardboard, and repurposed discarded books and magazines by pasting his drawings inside them. Eventually, he nailed a collage of his work against the boarded up storefronts of Goodbread Alley where he lived. The installation eventually caught the eye of influential art collectors, including Bernard Davis, then the owner of the Miami Art Museum. Davis became a collector and benefactor, providing Young with support and materials.

While street art is mercurial by nature, Purvis Young’s murals can still be found in Overtown today. The most recent was painted in 2010 on the overpass wall at NW 11th Street and NW 3rd Avenue depicting wild horses, angels and city buildings painted in shades of yellow, green, pink and blue. Another, painted in 1984, is found on the wall of the Culmer/Overtown Public Library branch at NW 13th Street near Gibson Park in the Overtown Folklife Village. Finally, the Northside Metrorail station, north of Overtown, houses a Young mural from 1986.

In addition to these public works, Young’s art can be found in the permanent collections of such institutions as the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the American Folk Art Museum in New York City. In 1999, notable Miami art collectors, the Rubell family, purchased the entirety of Young’s collection, nearly 3,000 pieces. Other famous collectors include Jane Fonda, Damon Wayans, Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Locally, his work can be viewed at the Purvis Young Museum in Fort Lauderdale, while many Miami art institutions have hosted temporary exhibits of his work in recent years.

Lauded for his fierce observational skills and the innate ability to dream, Young passed away in April 2010 at age 67 due to complications from diabetes. He once said of his work, “I try to solve how every man could get along; put honey in the sky where it could drip and make the world sweet.”

Sources:

Miami Dade Public Library System
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