The necessity to shelter the homeless is a prevalent and widespread reality in many urban areas, including Oakland, California, the hometown of American artist Gregory Kloehn who is using his creative capacity as an action for change.

As the founder of the ‘homeless homes project‘ — a community-driven initiative — Kloehn has realized a low-cost, practical, and imaginative solution for the construction of habitable shelters for those living on the streets.

He combs through heaps of illegally dumped trash, commercial waste, and excess household items piled in alleyways and discarded throughout the city, and upcycles the raw materials into walls, roofs, doors, windows, wheels, and locks.

Kloehn describes that adopting the otherwise disused garbage as a medium for architectural development ‘diminishes money’s influence over the building process and transforms the rejected debris into an object of hope and happiness.

Dumpster-Gregory Kloehn

Gregory Kloehn’s work is about taking the grandeur of the world and mixing it with social irony.

Through a solemn, yet spontaneous rendering of people, animals, and everyday objects. He seeks to explore the relationships that have emerged from the symbiotic relationship between us and our world. Presenting the familiar as an icon of our present condition, Kloehn mimics nature and industry into an artificially manufactured shade of reality.

gregory-kloehn-dumpster

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This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. Mylène Dubois

    You are amazing..

  2. Lippy Gloss

    Your a kind soul, and the thought of you doing this is such a beautiful thing, wish I could do this!

  3. Linda Spears

    Gregory keep up the good work there are not many people like you in the world. You are an Angel to all these homeless individuals!

  4. Lisa Marie

    I love your houses and your plans in action. Please teach your classes.

  5. Karen Hicks

    This is a wonderful idea!

  6. Sohaila Rahimi

    I love your work, and what you are doing for homeless. Thank you.

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