The Art of the Brick

I'm not sure how she finds these things, but Patty found an art exhibit entitled, The Art of the Brick, featuring works by Nathan Sawaya, at the Discovery Museum in Manhattan. So we, along with a friend, drove on up one Saturday morning.  The "Brick" is that made by Lego. And that is Nathan's medium. He creates his art using Lego bricks.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I mean, an entire exhibit of Lego constructions?

We arrived at the museum, meeting up with two more friends, bought our tickets and headed for the exhibit. It was very well done, very clever and we all quite enjoyed it. The Art of the Brick exhibit is well worth a visit. Go see it if you can.

Curiously, while photographing the Lego art was allowed, the museum staff didn't want me photographing this sign. Thus a noisy photo, no chance to tweak the settings and reshoot.

The exhibit starts with a collection of painting reproductions. From the ancient:

The Second Chinese Horse, by artist Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com

To the more recent:

The Scream, by artist Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com

Starry Night, by artist Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com

And note the different styles, The Scream is built with the Legos stacking up (the nibs on top) while The Second Chinese Horse and Starry Night with the bricks facing out.

Continuing, the next gallery held statues. Again from a variety of periods and cultures.

While not as big as the original, this one was large:

Moai, by artist Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com

This one a bit smaller, but perhaps life size:

Sacrificial Vessel, by artist Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com

(You knew I'd put this one in the post.)

Lest you think the exhibit was all reproductions, the majority was original works, presented in the next several galleries.

Globe and Facemask, by artist Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com

Yellow, by artist Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com

Facemask, by artist Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com

As noted above, some of these are large.

Circle Torso, Triangle Torso,  Square Torso by artist Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com

This one had a room to itself (note the person in the back right corner):

Dinosaur Skeleton, by artist Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com

And of course I liked this one:

Cloud, by artist Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com

We ended our stay by adding our names to the wall.

A very pleasant way to spend a morning.

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All of the artwork depicted in this post was created by Nathan Sawaya, who has graciously allowed for photography at the exhibit of his work. You can learn more at his website: brickartist.com