Latest Chapter in Broken Angel Saga
The story of the Broken Angel has gone from being one of hope—pioneering, quirky artist saves whimsical design while making a few bucks—to tragic—lack of political will and a collapsing market drive pioneering artist to desperate lawsuits. Re: the latter, The Times’ new blog The Local marked its first day in business with a post…
The story of the Broken Angel has gone from being one of hope—pioneering, quirky artist saves whimsical design while making a few bucks—to tragic—lack of political will and a collapsing market drive pioneering artist to desperate lawsuits. Re: the latter, The Times’ new blog The Local marked its first day in business with a post about Arthur Woods’ latest effort to save the building he bought more than three decades ago and transformed into a piece of public, albeit not code-conforming, art. According to the blog, Woods has recently sued the lender that began foreclosure proceedings against the property on the heels of a Stop Work Order; his suit relies upon the claim that a notary purposefully put the wrong date on some mortgage documents, though it’s not entirely clear why that would nullify the terms of the $1.8 million construction loan. He’s also making litigious rumblings about his partner on the project, Shahn Andersen. The whole thing is just sad.
Suing to Save an Angel [NY Times]
Broken Angel Up For Sale [Brownstoner]
Broken Angel: DOB Overzealous or Just Doing Its Job? [Brownstoner]
I rarely leave posts but this one is a PUBLIC SERVICE ACT for our neighborhood and future home buyers.
Truth be told, Shahn Andersen is a COMPLETE AMATEUR and works out of complete self interested.
The magnificent Broken Angel and environs will look even worse than it is now – poor Arthur for connecting with Andersen!
Shahn’s work is of extremely poor quality. He has terrible design taste (have you seen his ugly white panel sided home located at 56 Cambridge Place going for 2.5 M, money does not buy taste that is for sure) He manages his finances poorly and is over financed. He creates shoddy, poorly constructed buildings using low grade materials. He has no formal knowledge of building, engineering or architecture and he is a DEVELOPER!?
CAVEAT EMPTOR – DO NOT BUY A PROPERTY FROM SHAHN ANDERSEN – he is INEXPERIENCED, unresponsive and does not know what he is doing!
Michael,
Your last sentence shows how little you understand about public safety.
It’s a good think your a “filmmer” and not a public safety official or a building inspector.
For the record, this is the first time in my life I’ve ever defended building inspectors.
I am a filmmaker – and for the past two years i have been documenting the process of working on the building. I have stayed out of the conversation but do want to make one point. Arthur is an astoundingly talented and creative artist
Most people are only familiar with his work on the Broken Angel. His son has docuemented a lot of the inside- as well as his paintings at http://www.flickr.com/onebadapple
In the course of shooting I have seen some unbelievable paintings as well as countless mind blowing inventions.
I recently created a petition at his behest to gather signatures in support of his work. One signer commented that Arthur blew his mind with the cover of Todd Rundgren’s “A Wizard a True Star”. in my two years of filming i found out many amazing things that Arthur has done- but this isn’t one of them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wizard,_a_True_Star
who knew?
BTW- in the 30 years that Arthur was in the building not one person was hurt in it or by it.
petitiononline.com/brokena
michael galinsky
bxgrl you are never going to get it are you?
“DOB doesn’t always act in the best interests of public safety and that some of its decisions are based on politics and money”.
Irrelevant here my dear; in this case they got it right…Broken Angel was a disaster waiting to happen. Forget about what we think of it aesthetically this thing had major structural violations. DOB actions may not always be correct but in this case they had to act and did so rather forcefully. You may find Arthur’s work eccentric and interesting but objectively it was a dangerous and unsafe product…..take a look @ those photos.
Whoever said or implied that Gehry gets a pass? We pointed out that the overwhelming majority of his work is Pritzker material and all very safe. Can you point to any unsafe Gehry product that is in use?..it is frankly laughable to bring him up in relation to Arthur’s contraption really.
Gehry may build it “horrible” but they are and will be SAFE every time.
Arthur the artist made an “artwork” that is NOT safe for habitation.
Pollock? Do paintings have the potential to physically endanger anyone directly? Apples and Oranges bxgrl. Again safety is paramount in building construction before any aesthetic consideration…your man went the other way around.
BTW bxgrl do you follow modern architecture? Well we are very passionate about structural engineering and modern buildings hence our continuation with this discussion. Gehry as you may very well know is amongst the very cream of the business i.e. Koolhas, Hadid, H&d, Nouvel, R Stern , Ando, Piano, and N Forster. Yep he is right there with ’em.
“I went back in time on Brownstoner and found this little diddy..
Kudos to Mr. Woods, for being a very smart and canny dude, Shahn Andersen, for being a good guy, and Mr. B for getting the exclusive blog. This should be very interesting and educational.
Mr. Woods’ use of building materials as a sculptural medium is truly wonderful. I love the horizontal line of windows, which give the optical illusion of being crushed under the weight of the structure above. I’m sure that freaked the DOB, but is probably more stable than your average slumlord tenement, where they should be arresting people.
Looking forward to the progress in the coming months.
Posted by: Crown Heights Proud at February 9, 2007 11:09 AM
This was the time the Mutant Asset Bubble was imploding and no one listened. Time is my friend and very soon most of the building projects like this crap will suffer this same fate….” As posted earlier by the What
I quote this because I said it, back in Feb of 2007, and I stand by it, in spite of what’s happened since. Like Bxgrl, I admire the artistic endeavors of Arthur, and I admire Shahn for trying to help. I really don’t care what Shahn’s motivations were, he stepped up to the plate, and inexplicably has been dragged through the mud ever since. People have ragged on him for daring to attempt a project that would rescue a unique vision and artistic home, while standing to make some money. So what? He put tons of time, expertise and money into it. Isn’t that supposed to be the American entrepeneureal spirit? I really don’t care if he is an arrogant sod, a know it all, or a conniving sumbitch. That’s all hearsay to me, as I have never met the man, and I’m not going to pass judgement on him on the basis of internet gossip. All I know is that he was there when Arthur needed him, and it could have been grand. I’m very sorry it didn’t work out.
I also don’t get the hubbub over the safety of a structure that was minding it’s own business for over 35 years without falling down. We praise the eclectic and often bizarre creations of other artists who work big, like Gaudi, or Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers. Los Angeles wanted to tear the Towers down too, originally, and now owns and maintains them, as they were finally seen as the artistic masterpiece by a simple, untrained artist who wanted to express himself largely, in the medium of steel and tile. Whether Arthur simply nailed up some boards or not isn’t the point. The building was his artwork. Now it’s gone. Arthur and all involved lost out on this one, but so did the city, the community and anyone who appreciates artists who see the world in ways most never can and never will. Pity.
Sam- thanks-and Horrors!! I certainly was not comparing the tower to Broken angel. i was making a sarcastic reference to pierre’s rather facetious comment about the coliseum. BY the way, benson’s bringing fresh Italian pastry to the get together is dependent on you showing up. No pressure but we LOVE Italian pastry 🙂
Pierre- again since none of us really know all the details, I refuse to condemn Arthur for constructing his artistic vision. Ou may not have liked it either as a structure or as an artwork, but I still think it was unique and eccentric and rather wonderful. And yes- it could have been saved- something which you refused to even consider because it seems to have offended your sensibilities. Well, I’m no fan of Jackson Pollack but his work commands millions. Paint drips considered fine art. Go figure. However, I understand what drove him artistically and I respect that.
Note: I did not say it was a miracle it didn’t collapse- I said that the fact that it didn’t meant that Arthur must have had some idea of what he was doing. Nor did I say the DOB targeted him I simply pointed out to you that the DOB doesn’t always act in the best interests of public safety and that some of its decisions are based on politics and money.
There are other Gehry buildings that have complaints- and while it so happens I love a lot of his work, others, like the Ratner designs were horrible. So because he’s Frank Gehry he gets a free pass? I don’t get the vitriol against Broken Angel- the guy is in his 70’s, and now over 35 years of his lifes work is being ripped apart, he’s hurt no one, and a whole lot of people think its all a hoot. Sorry- not me.
bxgirl, I respect your opinions enormously, but you cannot compare the campanile tower at pisa, one of Italy’s supreme achievements of the 13th century, the most beautiful Romanesque tower in Europe, to this. Sorry, it doesn’t go.
bxgrl we did not miss your point at all. That piece of “art” work was an empty disaster waiting to happen and the DOB finally did its job in shuting it down. You are right it is amiracle that it didn’t collapse but artistic statement in a building is only valid when it is safe first and foremost (well you already know our opinion as far taste goes regarding this piece of work).
The DOB is not be an exemplary institution but your contention that Broken Angel was somehow targeted or unfairly treated is irrelevant because in objectivity the building had 27 major violations some of them structural @ the time of the initial DOB major intervention. Arthur’s building was structurally teethering on collapsing. No responsible municipality in the developed world would or should encourage such recklessness…
Now you may have know some anecdotal cases of Frank Gehry’s building having design flaws but we’ve been to many of Gehry’s building in Dusseldorf, we mentioned Bilbao, and even visited that new MIT building…his work is exemplary. We are talking Pritzker prize materials and by any standards the buildings with design and structural problems are in the infinite minority. That LA Disney center building had a minor problem with glare from the sun and has been corrected last we heard.
Note: we think its fair to say the Leaning Tower of Pisa is more important to that city than Broken Angel is to Brooklyn 🙂 What an abomination even comparing the two!
Well, our opinion is that Broken Angel was a unique artistic statement and seeing as it stood for at least 35 years without falling debris or collapsing, we imagine Arthur did know something about his craft.
We are not arguing whether or not it was up to code- but the real argument here seems to be a matter of taste. Yes, we did read the first and all the articles. Since we have seen the building for years but have never been inside- (as you have not)we are not predisposed to condemn it without knowing all the facts. We find the hysteria over Broken Angel rather surprising actually.
Yes, we do bring up Gehry and yes we are sure his buildings are engineered even those that look like they are falling down, and those that are suffering from structural or design problems. Bilbao, and many others, are brilliant.
Again, you missed our point. And having dealt with the DOB in regards to a Frank Gehry designed project, I can tell you from personal experience that money and politics have quite a bit to do with how they operate. Their lack of oversight and the blowing off of community concerns were some of the reasons why a building was collapsed by the developer and myself and my neighbors endangered. So let’s not presume the DOB is infallible or motivated strictly by safety to the public.
Note: The Leaning Tower of Pisa was saved and reinforced for safety reasons, but not torn down.