Purvis Young (1943-2010) Oil on Board. Measures - 33 1/2" x 24". Although Purvis Young enjoyed painting as a child it wasn't until after having been imprisoned as a young man, that he took up drawing again. Purvis was inspired by the urban murals of Chicago and Detroit and painting became a way to express his anger and frustration. He wanted to paint the stories of his own neighborhood. His first public art in the early 70s was the Goodbread Alley project. The art consisted of hundreds of pictures hung on boarded up buildings along Fourteenth Street in Overton, his Miami neighborhood. The heart of the neighborhood had been destroyed when I-395 was routed through the community. Through art Purvis Young has continued to channel his anger at the injustices of our society. Purvis Young's style is naive, expressionist and symbolic. He continues to be a prolific painter motivated by the need to express his views of social injustice.