Audio By Carbonatix
Advertising Can't Do It Alone
The challenges facing local news organizations are very real. That's why reader support matters more than ever. If you believe independent journalism matters, make a contribution today and help us reach our summer fundraising goal of $10,000 by August 9.
Purvis Young sits back in a plush, overstuffed, second-hand chair, cracks open a tall can of beer, turns on a television nature show, and spears a pink chunk of spam with a plastic fork. Five minutes later, the TV is muted, he’s pumping oldies through a radio, and painting his 50,000th original work. The prolific urban expressionist swipes a smooth curve of purple house paint across a wooden board that a friend found in a junk pile and brought to him on a bicycle. With a cheap hardware store paint brush, he delivers another masterful stroke, and continues working at a manic yet unhurried pace. It’s 3 a.m. now, but by sunup, he’s rendered a complete and lively Overtown street scene. There are dancing, big-hipped women, a flock of streetside angels, and many haloed figures moving joyfully through the city. The internationally collected master painter, self taught, with a heavy diet of Van Gogh and Picasso books from the public library, is truly in his element.
Feb. 6-25, 2013
