Purvis Young; Contemporary Urban Artist

Florida is known as a place for artistic expression, the buoyant nature has inspired a magnificent variety of artists from all walks of life, creating works depictive of both the Florida landscape and lifestyle. The lush Florida backdrop of land and sea was used as a tool by artists for depicting life as it once was; an early form of reporting for the masses. An example would be early sketch artists, drawing as accurately as possible, Florida's Indigenous tribes; including clothing, hunting and gathering techniques they used, along with the tools utilizing the environment, from the waters to the land. Explorers, pioneers from other southern states claiming territory, cracker cowboys, industrialization; including steamboats and railroads, which ultimately enabled tourism, were also drawn and painted before the advent of photography.

Those in the know, that is serious art critics, collectors, hipsters, museum acquisition purchasers, what have you, are familiar with Florida's most famous contemporary urban artist; Purvis Young. Those that haven't heard of him, fasten your seat belts. There are many big cities in Florida, with urban culture and street life, often referred to as "Florida's underbelly," where the flora and fauna of Florida stops, and the concrete jungle begins. In these cities, paradise is long forgotten; the lush green and vibrant blue surroundings distinctly Floridian to the tourists eye "disappear."

Yet from out of the grit, Purvis Young was and still is an unlikely hero of the people in regard to his recording of what he saw on the streets of Overtown Miami, not of an oppressed society, but a rising up through his own brand of urban abstract art and symbolism; a unique style that makes Purvis Young one of the most prolific and gifted contemporary urban artists of his generation, not a Florida artist per se, but an artist with a message.

He started off in a dinky warehouse, and was painting basic urban masterpieces throughout town and on huge canvases, and like the celebrated folk artists throughout the decades in Florida, would often make his own larger canvases and big wooden frames himself; fastening them together with hammer and nail, painting on stretched canvas or wood. He sometimes gave his work away until he was discovered, and relocated to a clean, big studio. Now his work, the massive paintings that he once gave away for free, fetch upwards of thirty-five thousand dollars, per piece.

The art itself is truly masterful; not only in abstract form and individuality, but from the use of symbolism. He likes horses, so he paints horses, yet there is meaning. Horses represent freedom and sometimes racial situations-some are black, some are white. The stick-type figures in black he paints on the bottom of his paintings have their arms in the air, a rising up if you will, from the oppressive restraints of society, though there is no permanent escape; note the eye watching in the middle at times. The more frenetic the style, the more symbolism, whatever leads him to express his views. There is a museum one can visit while in Florida dedicated to the man. One interested in viewing the cool urban art from this living, celebrated artist can find the museum in Ft. Lauderdale at:

Purvis Young Museum
725 Progresso Dr
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33304

http://www.gallery721.com/

©Linda Stamberger, 2009