New exhibit features art taken from childhood hobby

By Megan Hurt

Whether building simple block forms or intricate structures, Lego toys allow children and adults alike to use their imagination to create their own world.

Some people have taken Lego building to a another extreme by using Legos as an art medium. Currently, one of the most successful Lego artists is Nathan Sawaya, who has been creating large-scale Lego sculptures for nine years.

Fourteen of Sawaya’s Lego sculptures are currently on display in UK’s Rasdall Gallery in the Student Center as part of Sawaya’s “The Art of the Brick” exhibit touring the country.

Legos were popular toys for college-age students when they were children, said Student Activities Board Director of cultural arts, Nigel Lepianka, which is why he thinks UK students will enjoy this exhibit.

“It’s really interesting, a medium that’s nostalgic for UK students,” Lepianka said. “It’s one of the biggest things in the art world right now and students can relate to it. Legos were prime toys for us growing up, so we can relate to the pieces themselves.”

Sawaya said he has been fascinated with and enjoyed playing with Legos since he was five years old. It wasn’t until he read a book about artist Tom Friedman, who uses household items to build sculptures, that Sawaya was inspired to take Lego building to an art level.

“I look back at that moment as a watershed moment for me,” he said. “I recently put together a book called ‘The Art of the Brick’ and I hope kids get inspired from it to be their own artist.”

The first sculpture Sawaya created was a self-portrait that is currently in in Canada, but one of his most iconic is titled, and is part of the Rasdall Gallery exhibit is “Yellow,” a yellow human form with his chest pulled open.

“A lot of people have connected with that piece,” Sawaya said. “Out of the pieces at UK, I really like “Think,” which is a large grey head with little figures crawling out of it.”

While Sawaya’s sculptures are considered art, the simplicity of using Legos to build an art piece has helped attract people from outside the art world, he said.

“I find Legos bring in people who would not normally go to a fine arts museum,” he said. “They can relate to this toy in a way that they wouldn’t normally relate to art.”

Sawaya takes commissions on different pieces and builds sculptures for anything from a wedding gift to an office conversation starter for people. To keep things interesting, he often works on a few pieces at once, alternating between commission pieces and ones for himself.

“A lot of the UK ones are ones I’ve done for myself,” he said.

Inspiration for personal pieces come from a developed plan over time, where “Yellow” was in development stages for two years before a single brick was laid, Sawaya said.

“It’s hard to define where exactly inspiration comes from,” he said. “I live in New York, so if I ever get stuck on one piece, I can take a walk in the city and it usually leads to inspiration. Ideas germinate over time.”

Once the actual building of a sculpture starts, Sawaya still has a lot of work to do before it is complete. The longest he spent on one piece was an entire summer, when he was building a Tyrannosaurs Rex skeleton for a museum exhibit.

But Sawaya receives joy from seeing the reaction of people to the finished project.

“I hope people are just having fun because in the end, it’s just a toy I’m using,” he said.

“The Art of the Brick” exhibit at the Rasdall Gallery will be up until April 24. The Exhibit is free and open to the public. Hours for the gallery are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For more information about Nathan Sawaya and “The Art of the Brick,” visit his Web site www.brickartist.com.