Union Station hosts Lego art exhibit
Making its Kansas City debut is an international touring exhibit in an unusual art medium. “The Art of the Brick” is playing Union Station through May 28. It’s a collection of world-famous paintings and sculptures and more, reimagined using Lego bricks.
Artist Nathan Sawaya has pieced together thousands of rectangular Legos in the image of such masterpieces as da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” and Rodin’s “The Thinker.” Among the works on display, which vary in size and subject, are Sawaya originals. There’s a 20 foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton with 80,020 Legos and “Yellow,” a life-size figure of the torso of a man ripping open his chest, which is hollow except for the Legos tumbling out. He’s made of 11,014 yellow Legos.
Some of Sawaya’s original works bear personal commentary. An example is “The Step Ladder.” The artist wrote, “Sometimes when you’re looking for a step up, you don’t have to look any further than yourself. We’re all capable of more than we think.”
Some works are the product of an artistic collaboration between Sawaya and Australian photographer Dean West. “In Pieces” features West’s photographs of various tableaus with one or more Sawaya Lego creations inconspicuously included. Near the photograph is the Lego object, such as a pair of flip flops.
The exhibit at Union Station, one of six versions of the exhibit is the largest, with 120 pieces of Sawaya‘s works. The last piece in the exhibit was commissioned for Kansas City. “Make a Wish” will remain here. It took Sawaya a month and 10,400 Lego bricks to create.
Sawaya is “the first artist ever to take the Lego brick into the art world as a medium,” and has more than four million tiny colored bricks in his New York and Los Angeles studios.
Once a successful New York City corporate lawyer, Sawaya took an inspiring leap of faith. In 2004, he quit his lucrative job and embarked on an art career -- creating sculptures with Legos.
Since his first exhibit in 2007, Sawaya’s works have toured the world. He currently has two exhibitions in the U.S., and one each in Italy and Belarus. Later this year, museum-goers in France, Sweden, Canada and Pittsburgh, Pa., will be able to see “The Art of the Brick.” Sawaya’s also made commissioned pieces for such people as former President Bill Clinton, President Donald Trump, Elton John, Rachel Ray and Stephen Colbert. His works now command up to six figures.
The Art of the Brick’s 10 galleries amaze. On display are Sawaya’s skill at creating curves out of straight-edged bricks and his ability to imagine and fashion works of art using only colors that Lego has available.
The exhibit is unusual in that visitors can get up close and personal to the art works; they’re not enclosed in display cases. Visitors are also invited to take selfies with the works of art. “Park People” is one such tempting display. A life-size blue Lego man is seated on a park bench long enough for two or more. Visitors lined up to get a picture seated next to him.
Tours begin with a companion exhibit, “The Way We Played” by The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures and a short video about Sawaya.
“My goal with this exhibition,” Sawaya says on his Website, “was to elevate this simple plaything to a place it has never been before.”
As “The Art of the Brick” illustrates, he has succeeded.
