Urban Safari: The Art of the Brick
The World's Most Popular Display of LEGO® Art
Many of us grew up with Legos, but not many of us took that love and made it into an art form (and actual art) like Nathan Sawaya.
We first wrote about Sawaya in 2007, but hadn’t seen his work in person until now. We are so happy we did!
The Art of the Brick opened on November 21 in Boston and RainyDayMagazine was there to check it out.
“No need to rip your heart out, darling, I’m here now.”
VERY child-friendly, this exhibit. Not bad for grown-ups, either.
Nathan Sawaya’s impact in the world of contemporary art has been obtained by merging Pop Art and Surrealism in ground-breaking ways. His artistic vision blends color, shapes, and perspective using an unbelievable number of Lego pieces, assembled one brick at a time.
Oh, if only Legos came in “adult size.”
Famous Art
The show includes Sawaya’s Lego “remake” of many famous art masterpieces (such as Michelangelo’s Venus de Milo, Munch’s The Scream, and van Gogh’s Starry Night). At first glance, the pieces have the quality of 8-bit art from the early days of computer graphics, but closer inspection reveals that the works have an unexpected and unique energy all their own because of the medium.
“Look, Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night! Wait a second…Vincent painted with LEGO’s? Get out!”
Larger than life. And art.
Not just Art We Know
Remaking known art is one thing, but Nathan Sawaya also creates pieces that play with contrasts in scale and unexpected mixes of mediums. Below are some examples of the pieces that stood out to us.
Little red man, big yellow pencil.
You don’t understand – all these are made COMPLETELY and ONLY with Legos. Yes, the less than half an inch ones!
CRAYONS made out of LEGOS. Are you following this? Totally cray-cray! And completely awesome!
The 70-piece exhibit is spread over three floors. We took our time with each creation, but we won’t show them all. Trust us when we say that if (and you should) you take your time at this show, and savor the creativity, you will come away amused, amazed, and inspired.
Life Size
Unusually scaled works are whimsical and fun, but life-sized creations are also something Nathan Sawaya tackles with equal relish. The replica of a full T-Rex skeleton was the highlight of the exhibit for us.
The 20-foot skeleton took three months to build and required 80,020 bricks. Seeing a dino skeleton in a museum is awe-inspiring enough, but to see one created from Legos is just mind-blowing!!!
Teeth still scary, irregardless that they’re made out of Legos.
While most of the Lego art is “hands off,” there are a few pieces where touching was allowed and interactions encouraged.
We interacted. SO much. And we weren’t the only ones.
Want to see the over one million LEGO bricks transformed into more than 70 sculptures by artist Nathan Sawaya? The show is Boston at 343 Newbury Street until April 23, 2023. It is so worth it to go.
The show is in Chicago next. Check the schedule to see when!!!
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