Purvis Young Studio

I could only hope that Purvis Young’s memory would be represented by finer people than those who rudely reprimanded me at the the Purvis Young Studio (I’ll get to that soon).
There is no doubt that Purvis Young was an accomplished artist; perhaps his technique and style didn’t interest all art lovers but when the owner of the Miami Art Museum (around 1970) takes you under their wing (furnishing all his art supplies to create some of miami’s first murals) you know they are the real deal; or the fact that the Rubell family purchased all his finished works once (approximately 3,000 paintings in the early 70’s). Purvis Young has a rich history and there is even a documentary about his life, influences, surroundings and his art work.
His work is raw; he typically paints on found materials like scrap wood. The painting on these scraps are similar to finger-​painting but they are deep. The subjects of his work are of observations of his Overtown surroundings. His 1970’s mural in Overtown was made up of these scrapes of wood and nailed to an alley wall. People got wind of this and began coming to see the mural; including white folk who would often want to buy pieces and he would pull pieces down and sell them and often enough people would take them from the wall for themselves. He passed on in 2010.
I came to the studio for two reasons (1) to see his works of art (2) his estate had financial troubles. I don’t know if they still do but I thought it may be a good opportunity to purchase if troubles are still present (read articles online that the estate was selling his inventory for as much as 40 percent below the market value). I was intrigued by the raw style (some of the frames were just wood stripes nailed to the border of the painted plywood).
The place had a few patrons looking around. I took a couple pictures (no flash) and a guy resembling Purvis (perhaps a relative) screams «no pictures no pictures no no no». Have some class and just tell me. I apologized and said I would have asked but there was no one at the front entrance and there was no sign either. He replied with «no pictures no pictures» in a stern manner. I would have asked, as I did at every gallery I entered unless it was posted on the door, but there was no one to be seen when we entered. As a mater of fact, we weren’t sure if we should’ve entered at all (but we saw some other patrons inside). I would have offered to delete them if he was a gentleman; no need to scream or embarrass us.
5 stars for Purvis Young’s history & life
4 stars for Purvis Young’s art
1 star for lack of customer service
1 star for the classless act of meanness