Imagery is seen in the repetition of angels watching over cityscapes; figures from a Zulu past life, and symbols of freedom and escape – wild horses, trucks, and the flimsy craft that the boat people from Haiti use to journey to the U.S. The artist once painted on any surface found in his city neighborhood out of necessity.

 

Purvis Young continues this practice today as a highly successful artist.  His painting imagery came to him during a short jail term when he was a young man in the 1960s.

 

Paint, pencil.

 

Artist: Purvis Young.

 

Artist’s Website.

 

 

All images © Purvis Young.

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