Nathan Sawaya
'The Art of the Brick' is an exhibition I've done where I've taken some works of art from art history and replicated them all out of Lego bricks.
I was looking to explore the theme of good and evil, so what better inspiration than the comics? I'd developed a relationship with DC and Warner Bros. when I donated a sculpture of Catwoman to the 'We Can Be Heroes' campaign a few years ago. That's what started it.
Kids can't build a marble statue at home. But I've had parents tell me that, after an exhibit, their kids immediately dug out their Lego kits and disappeared for three days.
I am an artist who works with Lego.
The team behind 'The Lego Movie' approached me. They wanted to do something extra special for the Academy Award performance of best song nominee 'Everything is Awesome.' They had seen my earlier version of a Lego Oscar statue, and I was happy to take on the challenge.
I am confined to the Lego palate. I don't paint the bricks. I stick with what Lego has made. And the idea behind that is I do want to hopefully inspire kids to go home and create on their own. And if I do, I want them to be able to buy those very same bricks I use. So I don't alter the bricks; I just use what's provided.
I have about 4 million Lego bricks. And then a few million in storage in case something comes up. I still pay for them. I buy my bricks just like everyone else. It's by far my biggest capital expense.
I'm an independent artist, but I do have a good business relationship with Lego, since I'm a unique customer. They're aware of what I'm doing. A painter may not have a relationship with a paint maker, but there's only one company that makes Lego.
I've made a bit of a career taking daunting projects out of Lego. I've done things like a dinosaur skeleton and stuff like that.
I see the world in rectangles. If I am talking to someone, I find myself analysing their face, working out how to recreate it in bricks.
There's a fun, nostalgic aspect to Legos - people connect to the art on a different level. But it's also a medium that lets me design anything I can imagine. I especially enjoy creating curvy forms using rectangular pieces. Up close, you notice the sharp angles, but when you back away, the corners blend into curves.
What do young, budding artists do, but go to law school? I had creative periods now and again, but it wasn't until I was practicing law that I really needed a creative outlet. I'd come home from long days at the office and draw, paint, and sculpt from clay, wire - even candy.
There was a time when I was practicing law in New York and I wanted to find something else to do. So I ended up leaving the practice of law to pursue my art and it just happened to be out of Lego bricks.
I think watching Channing Tatum caress his Lego Oscar statue will be something I won't forget. Even if I try.
My work sells for £10,000-plus, but my most lucrative piece was a private project that was sold for more than six figures -dollars, that is. The process of the Lego can take weeks, months, or even days. Each one I deliver to specification to each gallery because they want them brought to them fully formed.
I split my commission and personal work about 50 per cent each. It is important to get that balance in life.
If I'm creating a free-form piece of art, I can make it look like anything I want, and nobody will say it's wrong.
When I was in South Africa, I was meeting with people who never heard of Lego bricks. And yet, when I was like, 'Here they are,' they immediately got it. They saw the appeal, were snapping bricks and creating their little creations right there immediately.
I do hear from people at my exhibition about seeing these things made from this toy from their childhood, and it brings them back. They'll go and buy a set of Lego from the gift shop because of that nostalgia and seeing it at the art exhibition.
So many people have asked me about getting their own LEGO Oscar that I submitted it to LEGO Ideas so that everyone has the ability to get one.
Art makes better humans, art is necessary in understanding the world and art makes people happy. Undeniably, art is not optional.Collection: Art
I have realised that my worst day as an artist is still better than my best day as a lawyer.Collection: Artist
When people go to museums and see a sculpture made out of marble, they appreciate it but it's very doubtful that they will go home and have a slab of marble they can chip away at, but people do have LEGO. I don't have any LEGO specially made for me, all of the shapes, sizes and colours I use are available in stores so that if someone is inspired to create on their own, they can go and buy the very same bricks.Collection: Home
I like using LEGO bricks as a medium because I enjoy seeing people’s reaction to artwork created from something with which they are familiar. …My goal is to elevate this simple plaything to a place it has never been before. I also appreciate the cleanliness of the LEGO® brick. The right angles. The distinct lines. But, from a distance, those right angles and distinct lines offer new perspectives, changing to curves.Collection: Distance
Inspiration is tough to define, it comes from so many different places. I have multiple exhibitions touring the globe, so I do travel quite a bit and travel is a great way to find inspiration.Collection: Inspiration
I'm trying to inspire as many people as I can. I want the viewer to enjoy the art and I want the whole family to have something to react to. I hope that folks go home and do a bit of doodling and creating on their own.Collection: Art
LEGO is universal. So many people enjoy it, from all different walks of life, all different ages, all different cultures. When I was in Africa, I had LEGO bricks with me and I met some people who had never heard of LEGO, they had never seen it before and yet as soon as I gave them a few bricks, they immediately got it.Collection: People
One of the reasons I love using LEGO bricks is because it makes the art very relatable and accessible; folks can connect with the art almost on a different level because they have played with it or their kids have played with it.Collection: Art
Over the years I have learned that creating art has made me happy. I used to be a lawyer and I'm much happier being an artist.Collection: Art
’The Art of the Brick’ exhibition is accessible because it engages the child in all of us while simultaneously illuminating sophisticated and complex concepts. Everyone can relate to the medium since it is a toy that many children have at home. But my goal with this exhibition when it first debuted in 2007 was to elevate this simple plaything to a place it has never been before.Collection: Art
The fact that you can take LEGO bricks from thirty years ago and they still snap together with the same new LEGO brick that comes out, I mean what type of product can span generations like that, there is something really special to it.Collection: Mean