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Past Exhibitions

Purvis Young: 91

On view September 12, 2019 through January 26, 2020

Purvis Young (American, 1943-2010), "Untitled", c. 1985-1999. Paint on wood. 47 7/8 x 72 inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of the Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL, 2004.046.037. © Larry T. Clemons / Gallery 712 / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York). Photographer: Philip LaDeau
Purvis Young (American, 1943-2010), Untitled, c. 1985-1999. Paint on wood. 47 7/8 x 72 inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of the Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL, 2004.046.037. © Larry T. Clemons / Gallery 712 / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York). Photographer: Philip LaDeau

The exhibition Purvis Young: 91 presents for the first time the depth of the Purvis Young (American, 1943-2010) holdings in the Tampa Museum of Art’s permanent collection. In 2004, the Rubell Family Foundation gifted 91 works by Young to the Museum, one of the largest donations of the artist’s work in the Southeast. Young, a self-taught artist, created thousands of assemblages with imagery of protesters, pregnant women, and warriors on wood remnants, cabinets, and doors. The artworks reflect Young’s experiences and observations living in Overtown, Miami.

Purvis Young: 91 is part of the exhibition series Ordinary/Extraordinary: Assemblage in Three Acts. The series simultaneously presents three discrete shows focused on works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Purvis Young, and a selection of 20th- and 21st-century Haitian Vodou flags. The use of found objects, such as discarded wood and textiles, formally links the exhibitions together. More importantly, historical and socio-economic narratives informed by the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora, the Black experience in America, as well as European artistic influences, unite the artists featured in the series. Although each is a stand-alone show, viewed together, the series explores provocative portrayals of race, identity, spirituality, survival, and hope in a range of assemblage objects and compositions.

Additional support for the Ordinary/Extraordinary exhibition season is provided by:

Deborah Brittain | Muriel Brathwaite
Dr. Willie Logan and Lyra Blizzard Logan | Bales Security