Purvis Young Biography (1943-Present) | Outsider Folk Art Gallery | George and Sue Viener | GoggleWorks Center for the Arts

Purvis Young is different. He is self-taught and self-educated. He works within his own system and it is no less valuable than traditional systems used by other artists. Unlike many other self-trained personalities who are coined as "Outsider Artists" because they work without the benefits of academic training, Purvis Young has substituted a lack of formal education with intensive reading and study and is incredibly knowledgeable and sophisticated about the history of art. He applies his own personal ideology and unique world view to the media of paint to create a visual language that expresses his concerns as much as it captures the life of the people and city that surround him. After learning of the "Freedom Walls" created by artists in Detroit and Chicago, Young decided in 1972, to create his own public mural at the intersection of Northwest Third Avenue an 14th Street in Overtown, Miami's inner-city coined "Good Bread Alley." The installation was visible from the newly constructed Interstate 95, which had all but dissected and consequently isolated his community from the rest of South Florida.

Representing Young's unique view on life is a symbolic vocabulary where city street scenes move to the rhythm of life, wild horses roam free, "eyes of establishment" loom over, ancient warriors do battle, immigrant-laden boats set sail, legendary jazz and blues performers rip. It is here that Purvis Young easily, yet effectively, expresses his true feelings.