New River Fine Art Hosts Purvis Young Retrospective thru 4/22 in Ft. Lauderdale

Purvis Young was considered the most important self taught contemporary artist to have emerged in the last 40 years. When he died in 2010, Bruce Weber wrote in his New York Times obituary that Purvis Young's work "... could be found in the collections of the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., the High Museum in Atlanta, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum." In fact, his art is part of the global collections of 60 museums.

In a major art world event, Lisa Burgess, owner of New River Fine Art at 914 East Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is opening an exhibition and offering for sale works from her personal collection of Young's art consisting of more than 700 constructions, paintings and drawings from the 1970's to 2001. It is perhaps the most important exhibition of the artist's paintings since the Rubell Family Collection acquired 3,000 pieces in 1999, with the aim of donating the works to museums and public institutions. In 2011, they donated 109 paintings, valued at over $1 million to Morehouse College's African American Hall of Fame where the collection is displayed today.

"We are very excited with this unique opportunity to unveil such a magnificent collection," Mrs. Burgess said. "The exhibition will debut at New River Fine Art on Friday, which coincides with the release of 128 page full color catalog." The exhibit runs through April 22^nd. The public is invited with advance reservations.

"We feel the time is right to begin offering works from our personal collection", stated Burgess. "With major museum collections growing, auction records being set for the artist's work and galleries asking higher and higher prices, the depth of the New River Fine Art's collection means we can offer real value to collectors for an artist whose reputation will continue to grow for many years. Many art professionals believe major works from Purvis Young will soon regularly be valued at over one hundred thousand dollars." Prices in the exhibition range from a mere $150 to $50,000.

Purvis Young was an American artist from the Overtown neighborhood of Miami, Florida. His work was a blend of collage and painting, utilized found-objects and the experience of African Americans in the urban America.

Call Lisa Burgess (954) 524-2100 or visit www.newriverfineart.com.

Artwork: Angels, mixed media, by Purvis Young.