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Locked Up Their Minds

Purvis Young American
1972
Not on view
Young lived in a predominantly African American neighborhood of Miami called Overtown, on a street with abandoned bakeries known as Goodbread Alley. Inspired by the proliferation of mural movements across the United States (especially in communities of color) in the late 1960s, Young began his own project on the street. Hundreds of murals, including Locked Up Their Minds, covered the building facades. Painted on scavenged detritus from the neighborhood, they exemplify his art’s gestural brushwork, dynamic black figures, and vibrant color palette. In this work, the bottom figures lift padlocks above their heads, as if presenting them to the angels above. The figures and angels are separated by two imposing horses, which in Young’s visual language represent power and freedom.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Locked Up Their Minds
  • Artist: Purvis Young (American, Liberty, Missouri 1943–2010 Miami, Florida)
  • Date: 1972
  • Medium: Commercial paint on plywood
  • Dimensions: 84 × 84 in. (213.4 × 213.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2014
  • Object Number: 2014.548.14
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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Crimson and Green Leaves
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Black Abstraction, Georgia O'Keeffe American, Oil on canvas
Black Abstraction
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Self-Portrait as a Photographer
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Tables for Ladies, Edward Hopper American, Oil on canvas
Tables for Ladies
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