Even though Purvis Young's work is in over fifty museums including the Smithsonian and the Corcoran, and innumerable collections such as the Rubell Family Collection, Purvis has never given a thought to leaving Overtown."I paint what I sees... I paint the problems of the world." says Young simply, and in public he wears dark glasses to "hide his tears" at the injustice and sadness he witnesses every day.

Because he could never afford canvas, Purvis painted on every surface available to him – discarded plywood and cardboard, refrigerator doors, table tops, scraps of fabric and metal trays, all often brought to him by scavengers in his neighborhood. Purvis Young has been creatively "recycling" long before it was either fashionable or profitable.