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Purvis Young(1943-2010)Untitled (Trucks)
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Jelena James
Senior Specialist, Head of Sale

Claire Dettelbach
Cataloguer

Jewel Bernier
Cataloguer
Purvis Young (1943-2010)
signed 'young' (upper right)
house paint on paper
32 x 25 in. (81.3 x 63.5 cm)
Footnotes
N.B.
Born in Miami, Florida, Purvis Young was deeply inspired by his community and the environment around him, spending much of his time in the historically Black neighborhood of Overtown. Known for working with found materials, ranging from scrap wood to house paint and repurposed posters, his works are inspired by old masters and books about art history. For Young, making art was a form of protest. He would often hang his paintings on abandoned property throughout his neighborhood as his way of reclaiming the space and sharing his art with the people. His best-known installation is Goodbread Alley (1971), which he created on two blocks of an abandoned alleyway that once housed Jamaican bakeries. The installation comprises paintings on the vacant storefronts and was made with reclaimed materials. It was eventually destroyed when new businesses moved into the storefronts, but a small amount of the works survived. Young's works are held in many institutional collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.
The present work features a theme often seen in Young's work. Young's depictions of trucks and other vehicles highlight their association with movement, labor, migration, and opportunity. In interviews with William Arnett and Larry Clemons in the 1990s, the artist said: "I see guys working, making a living with trucks. I love to paint trucks. The truck taken the place of the horse and buggy. The truck make work for the peoples. I create about the works."
























