Purvis Young and His Angels
September 14 – May 12, 2019 - Lockheed Martin Gallery I and II
Renaissance Angel
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Purvis Young was a self-taught artist who lived and worked in Overtown, a historically African-American neighborhood adjacent to downtown Miami. Working on materials such as discarded scraps of wood, metal and cardboard found on neighboring streets, Young developed an expressive and visionary style of painting rooted in his experience as an African American living in an economically distressed community.
Following a period of incarceration as a teenager, Young began to draw and paint as a way of critiquing the circumstances of life in his impoverished community. By the 1970s, Young began to receive local recognition, exhibiting his paintings by the hundreds in abandoned buildings in Overtown. His local success eventually led to national and international recognition with exhibitions throughout the U.S. and in Europe.
The exhibition of 33 works will be the first to feature Young’s work at the Orlando Museum of Art. Included will be 23 works gifted to the Museum as well as loans all from Daniel Aubry, a major collector of Young’s work.
SEASON SPONSORS
