About this project
Broken Angel is an original creation designed and built by Arthur Wood and his family. It is located on a cul-de-sac in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, NY. Broken Angel served as the stage and backdrop for the concert film Dave Chappelle's "Block Party". We are asking your support to help transform this architectural treasure into a museum.
This project is intended to give all creative people a chance to come together and expose their ideas to the public. It's not the size of your art that matters it's how you, and others view it!
We want you to design an original art piece on one square inch of paper and send it to us. For a $20.00 pledge we will combine your art work with others and display it at Broken Angel for viewing by the general public. We will use these squares to create the worlds largest collaborative art piece. The first 1000 squares sold will be displayed on the facade of Broken Angel. The first $50,000.00 will be used to safeguard the art collection that will eventually be housed in the museum. This includes Arthur Wood's work in addition to the pieces submitted as part of Broken Angel Squared. All submitted pieces will be archived and preserved for display.
Photography Gallery
Art Work Gallery
Broken Angel (1979- present). The building got its name from a romantic encounter of Arthur and Cynthia Wood. On a date the couple took the ferry to Staten Island. As they were walking around when they spotted the figurine of an angel lying broken in the gutter. Arthur took it home and repaired it in such a way that it looked like it was gliding magnificently above the world. A while later he saw a complete version of the original figurine posed in a boring and static position. He and Cynthia felt that he had taken something that was abandoned and ruined and turned it into a form that was better than the original. When he and his wife bought the building at 4 Downing Street from a city auction in 1979, they felt that it was like the angel they had discovered in the gutter. It was wrecked and ruined, an empty shell of a building yet they were going to rebuild it into something magical and majestic. They created stain glass windows out of broken bottles and concrete angels that soared in the rafters with wings of found bricks.
In 2004 Broken Angel served as the backdrop for Dave Chappelle’s “Block Party”. The concert was filmed on a stage constructed in front of the house and Cynthia Wood was featured in the film through a series of interviews.
It is Arthur’s hope that in creating this project; the spirit of Broken Angel will live on. From ordinary objects together we can create an extraordinary piece of art. Funds raised from this project will go to help turn this beautiful building into a museum.
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Funding period
- (30 days)