Drugs

Young incorporated oversized syringes with needles in numerous paintings and they often featured prominently. Opposite, a large syringe rests on the head of a pregnant woman surrounded by yellow angels. Many of the paintings depict clusters of syringes gathered and removed from the city by the angels above. On one of the paintings below, a haloed figure on horseback carrying a syringe rides away from the viewer into a mountainscape. “What I say is the world is getting worser, [homeless] guys pushing buggies, street people not have no jobs here in Miami, drugs kill the young, and church people riding around in luxury cars.”

 All works Untitled and ca. 1980-1999