The Art of Purvis Young

Up until today, I had never heard of Purvis Young. He is one of those real artists that the Art World likes to use the label Outsider Art to describe. I think they do that because the volume and quality and POWER of his work and the work of others like him shine a light on a lot of the pretense that exists in what I will call Insider Art.



Purvis Young has been witness to the tragic decline of a community. He still lives in Overtown, Florida despite his celebrated work. He wears dark glasses in public in part to hide the tears that he often sheds when he observes the human condition that surrounds his everyday life. He has always painted on whatever surfaces were made available to him, scrap wood, metal platters, anything. I love the color choices that he makes. And I like the faces that he draws. There seems to be a recurring character in many of his pieces, I don't know if it representative of his own self or a sort of everyman. He also has interesting pieces that feature groups of people. There is really no individuals in the groups, they are like a singular entity, sometimes dancing, sometimes marching in anger. In one painting it appears to be a group of young men turning their backs on the observer in a very overt gesture of dismissal. I don't want to make it sound bleak, there is a dreamlike grace and beauty to most of the work.


I would like to briefly mention the Hospitality Photography of Daniel Aubry. It is very professional, he has a widely recognized knack for revealing the essence of a space.