The Cleveland Housing Project

The Cleveland Housing Project


Drawing upon and transforming the abundance of abandoned and condemned homes for both their raw material and point of departure. What is once an emblem of the American dream and the standard form the modern American living condition becomes a symbol of the present state of the human living situation, while questioning it methods and by extension, its role in modern society.

Class, mortgage, taxes, abandonment, environmental efficiency, credit, and many other aspects relating to the current housing crisis of our time are present with each vigorously applied brushstroke of the word “NEW” emblazoned on over 50 abandoned, condemned and decrypted homes across the entire metropolitan area of Cleveland, OH. A city within the state of Ohio, which has the highest percentage of homeowners in foreclosure or with payments that are 90 days behind – a rate that is 65% higher than the national average”, According to Paul Poston, Neighbor Works Director for the Great Lakes district.

Numerous houses from Cleveland’s east and west side were selected to bare the cross of having the ambiguous bulletin painted across their desolate faces. The Artist transcends the work from the canvas in order to point out the flaws in the object of the abandoned pilgrimage while also leaving behind optimistic hints of hope. The word "NEW" reflects the theory of Mandatory Propaganda* and the laws of renewal, which guarantee the impermanence of all things, problems, housing, status, humanity, etc. Phrases such as “no copper”, “no drugs” and “keep Cleveland beautiful” are boldly scribed on the front of these structures, each one particularly chosen for its “mass communicative ability” and unique conditional appeal.

The ghostly remnants of a characters existence encircle each of these deserted structures, based out of the heart of middle class America resulting in a conscience illustration of the challenges Americans and others world wide have to face in an age of uncertainty. This observation is taken while not to obliterate the past history and present characteristics of what was at some point known to someone simply as home.