DANIA BEACH, Fla. – Just months after achieving a massive new auction record for Purvis Young (1943-2010), Akiba Galleries is offering another large-scale work by the African American Outsider artist. The monumental mixed media on plywood painting from the 1990s is estimated at $10,000-$30,000 on Tuesday, April 2.

Young, who lived his entire life in the Overtown area of Miami, was emerging as an art market ‘name’ when this 4ft by 8ft work, titled Angels Free Us, was painted. It was purchased from Outsider Folk Art Gallery in Reading, Pennsylvania by the present owner.

Eclipsing all previous prices for the artist, a large-scale, mid-career work by Young sold for a remarkable $350,000 at Akiba Galleries in December 2023. Date, size, and subject matter were key to its appeal: the 1974 painting on shipping crate plywood chronicles the artist’s unhappiness when his neighborhood was effectively divided to make way for an overpass bridging more affluent sections of Miami.

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