HONORING
PURVIS YOUNG
The Purvis Young Legacy Collection
September 5 - October 11, 2025
OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, September 5, 2025, 5-8 PM
KDR | 790 NW 22ND ST MIAMI, FL 33127
HONORING | PURVIS YOUNG
The Purvis Young Legacy Collection
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
KDR is thrilled to present a solo exhibition of historical work by Miami artist Purvis Young, on view from September 5 to October 11, 2025. Works on view are courtesy of The Purvis Young Legacy Collection. Purvis Young was born in Liberty City, a neighborhood of Miami, Florida.
After serving three years in prison, Young made a life-changing decision to pursue art. Upon his release, he poured his heart into creating thousands of small drawings, tenderly preserving them in shopping carts and gluing them into discarded books found on the streets. In 1971, his journey led him to Overtown's abandoned Goodbread Alley—named after the Jamaican bakeries that once filled the street— where he would make his home and create his legendary outdoor gallery. Though completely self-taught and having never painted before, Young began creating works on discarded plywood and many other found materials, nailing them to the boarded-up storefronts along the alley.
Within two years, visitors began discovering his outdoor gallery, and Young sold his works directly off the walls to tourists and collectors who recognized something special in his raw, authentic vision. His incredible prolific output meant that countless collectors have come to own a piece of Purvis Young's legacy, and today his works are deeply cherished throughout the South Florida community as irreplaceable symbols of that time and his work. Young had an incredible hunger for art history and would spend hours at his local library, devouring books about masters such as Rembrandt, van Gogh, Gauguin, El Greco, Daumier, and Picasso.
His paintings burst with vibrant colors and had this raw, immediate quality that people often compared to finger painting—there was nothing polished or precious about his approach. Specific recurring images showed up in his work: angels watching over the community, wild horses running free, pregnant sacred women, boat people, protesters, warriors, funerals, and the gritty urban landscapes he knew so well. He was using his art to call out social and racial injustices, speaking truth about politics and bureaucracy when others stayed quiet. His raw, expressive style and use of found materials made him a unique voice.
"As stewards of the Purvis Young Legacy Collection, we are dedicated to honoring Purvis Young, Miami's legendary visual historian, whose work is celebrated around the world. The presentation at KDR features works that have been carefully preserved in storage for decades—works acquired directly from Purvis in the late 1990s, which the public has never seen before. His emotionally powerful art is unlike that of any other artist—completely self-taught and remarkably sustainable, transforming discarded materials into profound artistic statements. Each piece in our collection has been thoroughly inspected, certified, and authenticated by The Purvis Young Foundation. We continue working closely with the Foundation to ensure that Purvis's extraordinary legacy remains an integral part of Miami's cultural history." – The Purvis Young Legacy Collection
Purvis Young (b. 1943- 2010) was born in Miami, FL, of Bahamian descent. He lived and worked in Miami until his death in 2010. Celebrated at the museum and institutional level. His work is featursed in the collections of the Rubell Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Centre Pompidou, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others.
