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Purvis Young (1943-2010) was a self-taught artist from the Overtown neighborhood of Miami, Florida. Having researched art history extensively, Young said he is influenced especially by Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rembrandt. His work was usually characterized by a blend of painting and drawing, as well as the incorporation of discarded everyday objects in a collage style. Young's vibrant paintings often show the streets of Overtown with "graffiti-like repetitive images" of traffic crowds and hovering angels. Inspired by documentaries, literature, American history, and spiritual folklore, his visual vocabulary was vast. He used angels to represent hope, wild horses to represent freedom, and eyes to represent "the system.” His style is naive, expressionistic, and symbolic.