Addonis Parker Restores Purvis Young's "Everyday Life" Mural in Overtown (Photos)

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Addonis Parker stands in front of a panel of Purvis Young's "Everyday Life" on the Overtown/Culmer Library

Purvis Young -- the late Liberty City native; painter of tens of thousands of urban expressionist works; whose paintings are collected by the Smithsonian Museum, Rubell Collection, Damon Wayans, and Jim Belushi; creator of his own complex language of icons and symbols; prolific recycler of found materials; and maybe the best artist ever to come out of Miami -- is back.

He muralized the Overtown/Culmer Library with a work called "Everyday Life" in 1984. According to the Miami Dade Library Art Service's department, he repainted it in 1991. And now, 21 years later, Addonis Parker has stepped up to the dead man's brush strokes for restorative therapy on the sun-, bullet-, and weather-beaten walls.

Parker first stepped up to the challenge in 2010 with the City of Miami's groundbreaking on a $10 million dollar renewal project for Gibson Park, where the library is located.

Today, the restoration has finally begun. Here's what it looks like in its very early stages. Below is the wall that faces NW Third Ave. The entire background is re-energized with a new coat of yellow housepaint (Young was a housepaint artist), and the lower right quadrant sees restored figures.

Parker says, "I studied the subject matter, man. Meaning, not only did I find footage on YouTube of him painting to study how he used the brush, but I studied his life, to learn who he is, his thought process, and his stroke pattern. He has his own fingerprint, a style he's known for."

"He painted with freedom. He was a free soul. He took the elements of everyday life and made them more beautiful. He related to the city, the crying, the traffic, the overcrowding....This wall, with everybody standing together, is about unity."