Just another brick in 'The Scream,' U.S. artist recreates famous artworks in LEGO

Record ID: 1848976

  • Title: Just another brick in 'The Scream,' U.S. artist recreates famous artworks in LEGO
  • Date: 17th October 2024
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (OCTOBER 16, 2024) (REUTERS) RED LEGO BRICKS WITH ZOOM OUT RED LEGO DRESS LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 15, 2024) (REUTERS) (via zoom) (SOUNDBITE) (English) LEGO BRICK ARTIST AND EXHIBITION CREATOR, NATHAN SAWAYA, SAYING: “Because working with Lego bricks, I'm limited to the company's palette, right? This is a toy product. It's not an art supply
  • Embargoed: 31st October 2024 13:19
  • Keywords: Art of the Brick LEGO art LEGO building Nathan Sawaya
  • Location: BERLIN, GERMANY / LAS VEGAS, NEVADA + LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: BERLIN, GERMANY / LAS VEGAS, NEVADA + LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Art,Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA006206815102024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Nathan Sawaya's love affair with Lego started as a child waiting to rip open the packet and slot the small coloured bricks together.
    In 2004, Sawaya left his Manhattan law firm and dedicated himself to Lego building full time, culminating in his first 'Art of the Brick' works in 2007.
    "It was later in life I would rediscover Lego bricks as an art medium. I actually was a practising lawyer in New York City, I would come home after a long day at the law firm and I'd want some sort of creative outlet. I tried different things but just one day I thought, Well, what about those toys from my childhood? Could I create sculptures out of Lego bricks? So I started experimenting, and that's what really set me on my path," Sawaya tells Reuters from his Las Vegas studio.
    With 20 years experience and studios in New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Sawaya uses his inventory of some 10 million bricks to create life-size sculptures, dinosaur skeletons and more recently has used Lego to recreate famous artworks like 'The Scream.'
    “It was an interesting start because I would go to art galleries and say that I make art out of Lego and they kind of chuckle and I think they would envision, you know, what they'd seen at a toy store, maybe a castle or a train.. and eventually the art world has shifted. And you see Lego being used more and more in fine art, as well as contemporary artists using it solely and as just an additional medium to whatever they're working on. So that's been interesting to watch."
    According to Lego, Sawaya is the only person in the world who has been both a Lego Master Model Builder and a Lego certified professional. Initially the company was sceptical about Sawaya using their bricks for his public works.
    “It started off where I was just doing it on my own. I was buying bricks where I could find them, you know, not just from stores, but from like used bricks off of eBay or other websites. And I did get contacted by Lego early on in my career, my Lego career, asking some questions about what I was doing. And we had a good exchange, and it eventually led to a good business relationship. So now I, like everyone else, still buy all my Lego bricks, but I buy them directly from Lego," tells Sawaya, who orders about a quarter of a million bricks every month.
    Visitors and Lego fans of all ages at the 'Art of the Bricks' exhibition, which is currently on show in Berlin's district of Neukoelln are fascinated by the colourful Lego art pieces.
    "I think it's very creative. I also like building with Lego, but only ever by following instructions. And I wanted to do something else here, which is to find the piece with the most bricks," said 11-year-old Johannes. For others like Manfred Guenther it was a blast from the past. "I am speechless. It brings back childhood dreams of playing with Lego," he said.
    “When it comes to a particular sculpture, let's say a life-size human form, you're looking at anywhere between 10, 15, probably 20,000 bricks. And that's going to take me, you know, up to 2 to 3 weeks of just full days working on it. So it is a job that needs patience,” Sawaya says.
    Sawaya's Lego art is not just subject to patience but is also reliant on Lego's colour palette. In the end though, the driving force is Sawaya's love for the little bricks.
    (Production: Oliver Barth, Tanya Wood, Ulrike Heil)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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