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Honoring the Life of Purvis Young

Miami Art Life Talk with Artist and Professor Kandy Lopez

NSU Associate Professor and artist, Kandy G. Lopez will lead a talk in conjunction with the exhibition, Honoring the Life and Works of Purvis Young.

The exhibit will be presented in collaboration with the Purvis Young Foundation and will run from March 20 through May 1. It features a curated selection of works that offers a retrospective introduction to Young’s life and artistic practice, particularly for audiences who may be less familiar with his work.

The exhibition highlights recurring themes present throughout Young’s career, including urban experience, social struggle, spirituality, and resilience. It also contextualizes his background as a self-taught artist from Miami’s Overtown community and traces how his use of found materials and everyday supports became central to his visual language. Alongside biographical context, the exhibition demonstrates the breadth of his work and the consistency of his symbolism and imagery over time.

While rooted in his local experience, the exhibition also situates Young within a broader art historical context. His work is held in major museum collections across the United States, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others.

Kandy G Lopez (b. 1987, New Jersey) is a multidisciplinary portrait artist exploring cultural identity, representation, and power through fiber, painting, glass, and mixed media. Born to Dominican parents, she draws from her experience navigating multiple cultural landscapes.

Lopez holds a BFA in Painting and a BS in Marketing/Management from the University of South Florida and earned her MFA in Painting from Florida Atlantic University in 2014. Her background in both fine arts and business informs her meticulous material investigations and strategic engagement with art institutions. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and Arts at Nova Southeastern University, where she integrates critical theory with hands-on material practice.

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