Nathan Sawaya
If we’re all honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that we want to be like Nathan Sawaya. We want to build things with LEGOs and get paid for it.
Sawaya has taken LEGO building to a level that exceeds what we imagined possible when playing with the plastic bricks as kids. The New York artist’s travling exhibit opens at Turtle Bay Exploration Park on Saturday (May 16), featuring 27 sculptures and oversized mosaic portraits.
It’s the West Coast debut for “The Art of the Brick,” which runs through Jan. 3 and is free with general park admission ($13 for adults, $9 for children and seniors, free for Turtle Bay members). For more information, visit Turtle Bay’s website .
On Saturday (from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), Sawaya will be at Turtle Bay to build a piece, answer questions, and show how he creates his sculptures.
A Washington State native, Sawaya quit a well-paying job as a lawyer in New York to become a master builder at Legoland in Carlsbad, Calif. He did it for seven months, laying down the foundation for a career where he can now make a living building LEGO art works.
Sawaya took time from his busy schedule to answer questions for A News Cafe:
How did you manage to get the job that every kid on the planet wants?
To be honest, I just did it. I have been fooling around with sculpture all of my life, but it was about nine years ago that I challenged myself to create a large scale sculpture using only LEGO bricks. It got a good response and I soon put together a few more pieces. I posted photos of my works on my website, brickartist.com, and soon thereafter I was getting commissions from all over the world. I started creating works that really spoke to people and the result has been just amazing.
Why do people respond so well to your work? I assume there’s the “fun” element, plus most everyone can relate to building with LEGO?
Playing with LEGO growing up let me build anything I wanted to build. It let my imagination control the playtime. If I wanted to be a rock star that day, I could build myself a guitar. If I wanted to be an astronaut, I could build myself a rocket. It was the perfect tool to lead me into my current life as an artist, where I get to create whatever I want. And get paid for it!
As an artist LEGO is a great medium for creating anything I can imagine. I still use those same rectangular plastic bricks that I had as a child, but now I try and use them in a way that hasn’t been seen before. By taking the bricks and making them more of an art medium rather than only a toy.
I think there is a nostalgia factor in building with this medium that harkens back to playing with the toy as a child. I especially love seeing people’s reactions to my sculptures made from the very same toy they have played with at home. It is inspiring in itself just for me to see the awe on people’s faces when they realize that something I have created is entirely out of LEGO bricks.
You’ve pretty much proven you can build anything with the bricks, but are there any forms that are particularly difficult?
The most difficult form to create out of bricks is the curve. Mastering the curve out of these little rectangles was the watershed moment for me. Once I learned how to create curves, I could use that to create almost anything. It would eventually lead me to creating the life-size human forms for which I am known, like my sculpture Grasp, which depicts a red figure pulling away from several arms grasping at it. My sculptures are created out of thousands of little right angles, but when you look at the works from a short distance, your eye is tricked into seeing smooth fluid lines and the sharp corners disappear.
Does the LEGO company give you a deal on buying the bricks? I guess you probably buy in bulk, huh?
I have to buy my LEGO bricks just like everyone else. I do have a good business relationship with the LEGO company. I am one of those rare customers that buys by the tens of thousands .
Ever miss the corporate law job?
The worst day as an artist is still better than the best day as a lawyer.
