ROSEBANK — A Staten Island artist known for his "Living Installations" series is reaching out to the Internet for help raising funds to repair his basement apartment, which was wiped out earlier this month in a freak flash flood that also damaged thousands of pieces of his work.
Michael Alan, a painter, lived in the basement of his parents' Rosebank home which he had converted into an apartment and studio. Heavy rains flooded the inside Sept. 6 while he was asleep.
"I call it a complex, emotional, one-man disaster," Alan said.
The water destroyed the inside of his flat, rendering it uninhabitable, and damaged about 2,000 of his works, including about 100 that he said can't be repaired.
"I lost most of the money I've made in my career on this house," said Alan, who added he had no insurance on his work.
"I depended on this space as a storage space and a living space and everything was paid for. Now I’m kind of restarting, which is not that exciting."
Since the flood, Alan has been staying in a small spare room in the upper level of his parents' home, with the artwork that can be salvaged cluttering the hallways.
He said the unit would cost too much to repair, so he started a GoFundMe page to raise $9,500 to help him get back on his feet. He has also started selling his work online at a discount, with some large pieces $10,000 cheaper than before.
As of Thursday morning, he had raised $2,333 on GoFundMe.
"I can't think of asking for everybody to fix all my problems, I just need enough money to get out of this spot," he said.
About 20 years ago, Alan moved back in with his parents to be closer to them as they got older. He said he sunk nearly $100,000 over the years to convert the basement into a one-bedroom apartment that also doubled as a painting studio.
He never had flood problems until the state started work on the nearby Staten Island Expressway, Alan said.
On Sept. 6, while he was asleep, heavy rain hit the borough and flooded several neighborhoods, including Rosebank.
"I just heard screaming and explosions and water was everywhere," Alan said. "By the time I got out of the bed into the next room the entire apartment was flooding."
Afterwards the flood waters cleared out, Alan got workers to assess the damage and decided that it would cost too much to rebuild, especially since it could easily flood again. He has decided to move back to Brooklyn, where he was born, after he returns from three shows in Europe this month.
"Right before this flood I was at the top of how you can feel as an artist," he said.
"There's no telling if it rains again what [might] happen. I lost most of the money I made in my career on this house."
