Purvis Young A Self-Taught Painter: A Man In Tears

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Art is to be admired and complimented. It gives us a way to be creative and to express ourselves. Today, we had the opportunity to learn from the art work of Purvis Young. Purvis Young was a self-taught painter, who was born in Miami, Florida on February 2, 1943. His art work consisted of images of trucks, trains, railroad, and African American people. As I viewed the paintings, I notice that each piece of art work had some type of resemblance.
A particular painting captured my attention. It wasn’t just any painting, as you may think. As you stare at the painting, you could see a mixed of emotions, which makes you wonder. It’s a portrait of a man. As you scrutinize the painting, you realized that its background is obscured, like if its hiding something or maybe its just the man trying to block his surrounding. Its colors are deep and bright. At the corner of the painting, diagonal to his head it has purple mixed with red, which could mean pain and sorrow. Then it has a huge bright sun behind the man, as if it was touching his head. As you look down the painting you could see some white color, like reflecting light.
The focal point of this work is the central figure, a man in tears. You can see the drops of grief welled up from the corner of his eyes and Hot torrents of grief coursed down his face. His close set eyes seems to have one eye open and the other close, as to trying to take a quick peek. His nose is small and button-like, with a slight widening that gives it an evil look. His lips are big and his mouth appears wide opened. It looks like he’s shouting. He’s neck short and thick. Not mentioning that he has a big forehead and a small chin. He’s dark skinned and has bristly hair.
Art can be seen in different point of views. Its all about the way you look at it. I’m really glad we got the chance to look at the paintings. They were fascinating and amusing. Its unbelievable how much you can say in just one painting.