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broken angel

It's fall in New York. October continues to be my favorite month of the year. Everything seems to slow down with a strange melancholy feeling that I enjoy. My favorite thing to do during this short period of time is to walk the streets of New York, and take pictures. I recently moved to a new neighborhood...left Manhattan for Ft. Greene, Brooklyn. This has to be one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in New York, lined with brownstones, and interesting old buildings. I have seen many gorgeous, and strange buildings throughout NY, but never have I seen anything like what I saw on Sunday. While walking down a street toward what seemed to be a park up in the distance I looked down a street to the left that I was crossing only to see this: At first I thought it was just a dilapidated building, but quickly my eye adjusted and I started to think that this was done on purpose. As I got closer I could definitely see that this was some sort of art project or experiment: The building looks like an old church with a larger apartment building thrown on top with a bunch of strange structures: The top of the structure is a very intricate structure of windows that are mounted in directions not usually seen...the whole thing looks sturdy, and about to fall apart at the same time: One window even has a door in it's place, with some chickenwire to keep people from falling out: The building is located at the corner of Quincy St. and Downing St. in Ft. Greene / Clinton Hill if you would like to see it for yourself. I was extremely intrigued by this building, and did a little research on the name "Broken Angel", which is what appears above the front door of the building (note the neat little mail drop on the left): It turns out that the building belongs to an artist Arthur Wood, and his wife Cynthia Wood. Apparently he is a bit of a mad scientist as this New York Times article points out. One of my favorite lines from the article is Arthur's "kitchen clock" which is a series of pvc pipes that point at each other through the walls, which eventually point outside to a clocktower that stands tall in Brooklyn. My friend Aaron was saying how he feels there is inspiration around every corner in New York, and I agreed with him. This has to be the most intriguing structure I have ever seen in New York, and saying that it is inspiring almost doesn't do it justice. Arthur has been working on the building for 30 years, and speaking to my mother she wondered why so many creative types tend to be a little...wacko. I thought about that statement...wacko. Maybe Arthur is a little crazy, but I almost wonder if we are just the ones who are a little crazy having assimiliated into this environment that we all inhabit. Maybe if we all had a project such as Broken Angel to work on for a good portion of our lives we would all be happier. Apparently Arthur and his wife Cynthia are doing well, and happy in their early / mid seventies, and can even jam out with Dave Chappelle.