'I'm a former lawyer who makes sculptures using thousands of LEGO bricks - now they're on show in Leeds'
When working as an attorney in New York City, Nathan Sawaya would turn to a creative outlet to wind down at the end of a long day at the law firm. It started with painting and drawing – and then, Sawaya reinvented a toy from his childhood.
“I had LEGO bricks as a kid and then later later in life, I rediscovered them as an art medium,” he says. “I started exploring it one day, that was over 20 years ago, and then had my first solo art exhibition in 2007.”
The law soon took a back seat and the art became a full-time job. Sawaya’s touring exhibitions The Art of The Brick have now been shown all over the world and for the first time, his intricate LEGO creations are on display in Leeds.
The exhibition features more than 70 sculptures, including reinterpretations of world-famous artworks such as Van Gogh’s Starry Night. “The art is very accessible,” 52-year-old Sawaya says. “It’s something that so many people are familiar with because they’ve either snapped a brick together or at least stepped on a LEGO at some point in their life.
“Everyone has a familiarity with the toy and so when they see the art, that creates a connection to the art that may not be there with other media. A lot of people reach out to me and they say after they’ve seen the exhibition how much they were inspired to go create out of their own bricks…If someone sees a marble sculpture, most people don’t have marble at home so even if they’re inspired, they don’t have that access. But they do have access to LEGO.”
Sawaya’s own work can take anywhere from a few days to several months to complete, using up to 25,000 individual LEGO bricks. The great thing about Lego is it always snaps back together, he says, but thankfully, there’s never been any major disasters.
“I glue each individual brick together. Because the show travels all over the world, I want to make sure it arrives in one piece. Now, what that means for me is it’s a very slow process and if I make a mistake, I have to use a hammer and chisel to tear it apart. You have to have patience for this job because projects take a while.”
It’s almost impossible to choose a favourite but Sawaya particularly likes working on a human form “when I can put a lot of emotion into the piece”. As for his audiences? “Kids are drawn, I’ve noticed, to either really big things or really small things. They may really enjoy a giant polar bear out of LEGO or it may be just a simple apple out of LEGO. But there’s other pieces, human forms, where adults have more reaction because they see the the emotion and the messaging behind it.”
His own children never played with LEGO that much – “I think when they saw me playing, they decided it wasn’t really for them,” he chuckles – but Sawaya’s younger self would be in awe of his career and creations. “It’s a dream come true. I have found my dream job.”
The Art of The Brick, Leeds can be seen at The Headrow – Unit 3, Broadgate until the end of October.