Broken Angel Makes It in La La Land

If your read one story today from a publication you don't normally peruse, make it the Sunday's excellent Los Angeles Times story about Broken Angel. The story is full of both excellent detail and color and makes a point worth repeating that a significant work of art is threatened with destruction by the city. The article even quotes Margot Niederland, who made a film about Broken Angel, calling creator Arthur Wood "a crazy New York Gaudi." Here's a bit of the flavor:

Turn down a side street in the Clinton Hill neighborhood and a strange structure rises above the skyline. It is wooden, and handmade, and — depending on your angle of approach — it can resemble a 15th century flying machine, or a warped Gothic cathedral, or a pile of sharecroppers' shacks poised deliriously over Brooklyn.

The building is the work of Arthur Wood, a slight man of 75. For 27 years, Wood's neighbors have watched him climb to the top of his building to begin work on its next level. Wood builds without exterior scaffolding or a harness, and often with no assistance except for his wife, Cynthia. The structure has risen to 108 feet. Wood says it is about one-third finished.

The story brings Broken Angel to a wide audience. Maybe someone in Hollywood will make a movie about it or someone there will decide to support the work. In any case, future historians of New York City will not be kind to those that allow the destruction of Broken Angel.

The owner is still raising money by selling art and son Chris Wood is selling some of his photos for the cause. Click here to go to the Artezn website.

[Photo courtesy of onebadapple/flickr]