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The contemporary public art organization No Longer Empty, is revitalizing the Andrew Freedman Home — a block-long mansion along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, originally built as a welfare hotel for the retiring wealthy who had fallen on hard times beginning in the 1920s and lasting into the 80s, when it was taken over by the non-profit Mid Bronx Senior Citizens Council — by inviting 32 artists to create site-specific works.

Many of the artists included are well known graffiti artists such as Crash, Daze, and How & Nosm who have each taken one of the rooms and are bringing them to life. There is a bit of irony in the choice to invite street artists to revitalize the grand mansion when its decline coincided with the rise of Bronx graffiti in the 70s and 80s, but there are also parallels which the curator points out: “…the role of the artist rising from the ashes of the burned-out neighborhoods then and an art show in the decay of this home now.”

The exhibit, titled This Side of Paradise, begins the evening of April 4th through June 5th, and will open the gates of the Andrew Freedman Home to the public.

Photos by Jaime Rojo. Top to bottom: How & Nosm Reflections; Crash Connections; Daze; Adam Parker Smith, I Lost All My Money In The Great Depression And All I Got Was This Room; Scherezaede Garcia; Cheryl Pope, Then and There

via Brooklyn Street Art