Nathan Sawaya Artist Catalog

8/12/2019 Nathan Sawaya Artist Catalog

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nathansawaya


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nathan

sawaya


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Nathan Sawaya is a New Yorkbased

artist who creates aweinspiring art

from some of the most unlikely things.

His recent global museum exhibitions

feature largescale sculptures using

only toy building blocks. LEGO bricks

to be exact. As a full-time independent

artist, Sawaya accepts commission

requests and shows his art in galleries in

New York, Miami and Maui.

Hes available to design and build

custom creations for private collec-

tors, events, photo shoots and conven-

tions. In addition, he is occasionally

available for speaking requests and is

the author of two bestselling books.

These books include The Art of Nathan

Sawaya and The Art of the BrickThe

Pictorial. Sawaya was the first artist to ever take LEGOs into the art world. His

unique sculptures and touring exhibi-

tion, The Art of the Brick, continues to

inspire creativity as well as break atten-

dance records around the globe. Born

in Colville, Washington and raised in

Veneta, Oregon, Sawayas childhood

dreams were always fun. He drew car-

toons, wrote stories, perfected magic

tricks and also played with LEGOs.

bio


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the

artofthe

brick


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The Art of the Brick museum show tours

North America, Asia and Australia. This

exhibition is the first major museum exhi-

bition to focus exclusively on the use of

the popular toy, LEGO bricks, as an art

medium and artist Nathan Sawaya has

taken it to new heights.

The New Yorkbased artist has mul-

tiple unique exhibitions created solely

from standard LEGO bricks with several

new sculptures created specifically for

each exhibition. Each show has countless,

colorful LEGO pieces, which Sawaya has

transformed into whimsical and awe

inspiring creations.

Sawayas ability to transform this

common toy into something mean-

ingful, his devotion to spatial perfec-

tion and the way he conceptualizes

action, enables him to elevate what

almost every child has played with

into the status of contemporary art.

These works are very personal to me, since they reflect my growth as an artist

as I strove to discover my creative identity, said Sawaya. The museum exhibition isaccessible because it engages the child in all of us while simultaneously illuminating

sophisticated and complex concepts. Everyone can relate to the medium since it is a toy

that many children have at home. But my goal with this exhibition when it first debuted

in 2007, was to elevate this simple plaything to a place it has never been before.


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disintegration35" x 32" x 6"

Friends huddle together to keepfrom being buffed by the winds.

Spiritual partners want to know

where the winds come from.

Nathan Sawaya

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Art of the Brick

is pretty much

blowing our

minds...Cond Nast Traveler

green70" x 27" x 15"

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Amazing Lifelike

LEGO MasterpiecesGood Morning America

mask (left)detail (above)

29" x 71" x 24" 13


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skulls34" x 24" x 3"

A breathtaking exhibition... thoughtprovoking,

visceral, playful and inspired.TimeOut New York Kids

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Dont Miss!New York Post

peace by piece (right)detail (below)

30" x 30" x 4"

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despair32" x 28" x 17"

Some of my other ideas really come from

personal journeys, personal emotions,

and just trying to express something newout of LEGO!Nathan Sawaya

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untitled


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untitled7" x 21" x 6"

Nathan Sawayas Lego Creations Are AwesomeThe Huffington Post

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Anything But Childs PlayThe Wall Street Journal

yellow35" x 13" x 28"

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stairway (left)detail (right)

38" x 40" x 15"

Nathan

Sawaya

uses 1.5

million

Legos

to build

wonders!Daily News

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the courage within60" x 18" x 11"

Opening oneself up to the world is not

an easy thing to do.Nathan Sawaya

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untitled13" x 23" x 13"

He turns the tiny, plastic bricks into works of art!Fox 5 News

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q & a


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What is your earliest experience discovering Lego and when did your interest in becoming a lego artist

start?

I had LEGO bricks growing up. When I was about ten years old, I asked my parents if I could get a pet dog, and

when they did not get one for me, I created a lifesize dog for myself out of LEGO bricks. It was an early turning

point in my art career. As an adult, I created artwork using more traditional media such as clay and wire. I had

also done a series of sculptures out of candy. A few years ago I thought about his toy from my childhood and

challenged myself to create a large scale sculpture using just LEGO bricks. It was well received got a strong

reaction from friends and family. I continued working with bricks as a medium, and it has led to my current

career as the brick artist.

How was your learning experience when you first started and how have you evolved from then and now?

One important part was learning how to glue bricks together. I had found that although the bricks snap together

just fine, I needed to glue them together in order for the sculptures to be shipped and arrive in one piece.

Museums get grumpy when they open up a crate and just fine a pile of loose LEGO bricks (some assembly

required). I had to figure out how to use glue without taking away too much from the look of the bricks. It took a

while to master gluing the sculptures together.

Besides the beauty and creativity surrounding Lego, what do you think is the essence of Lego?

Possibilities. There are many reasons why I use LEGO, but the foremost reason is that LEGO bricks let me create

anything I can imagine. I wanted to elevate this simple childhood toy to a place it has never been before: into

the fine art galleries and museums. I appreciate the cleanliness of the LEGO brick. The right angles. The distinct

lines. As so often in life, it is a matter of perspective. Up close, the shape of the brick is distinctive. But from a

distance, those right angles and distinct lines change to curves. That is what drew me to the brick.

q & a


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Your works are very detail orientated. What is the creation process like and what is the average time you

spend on a project?

Essentially there is a similar process for each sculpture. It starts with inspiration and an idea.

Inspiration comes from everywhere. Many of my works center on the phenomena of how everyday life, people

and raw emotion are intertwined. Often my art is a reenactment of my personal feelings. I am inspired by myown experiences, emotions and the journeys I am taking. I also try and express my emotions through my art.

Once I am inspired I draw out my idea. I am always carrying my sketch pad so that I can draw out my ideas as

they come to me. Before I start building, I try and plan out as much as possible. I want to envision in my mind

what the finished sculpture will look like before I put down that first brick. As I start building, I actually glue the

bricks together as I go. This involves painting a little bit of glue on each and every brick. If I make a mistake,

well, Im good with a hammer and chisel. Once the sculpture looks the way I had envisioned it, I know that Im

done. The timing of this process is different for every sculpture. A typical lifesize human figure can take up to

23 weeks to create.

What has been your most challenging project so far?

Every project has its own challenges. Any time I am doing a human form, I struggle with

making it look correct. It can be challenging to use these small rectangular bricks to form the

curves of a human body. It is a step by step process to make sure the sculpture looks right.

One of the most challenging sculptures was a human form sculpture titled Pushing Against. The figure

needed to stretch over 8 feet tall so that when sitting on the floor its hands were pressed against the ceiling.

One of my more ambitious projects was creating an entire billboard that hung in Hollywood, California. It

measured over fiftythree feet long and fifteen feet high. I used over 500,000 individual LEGO pieces to make

it. One of my biggest sculptures is a skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It measures over 20 feet long and tookme an entire summer to build. It is currently on tour in Australia as part of my exhibition, The Art of the Brick.

What is the most important factor to you when working on a project?

Color. It is important to use the right color.

w i t h . . .

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What do you try to communicate through your art?

I want to captivate people for as long as I can keep their attention. Certain works may have different mes-

sages. The message of my artwork depends on the particular piece. Each piece has a different story. For

instance my sculpture, The Courage Within, is about the transitions one can go through in life. Specifically, the

metamorphosis I went through in my transitions from attorney to artist. The fact that the sculpture is built out of a

construction toy and the store behind the sculpture is about re-building oneself is additive to the interpretation.

What else are you passionate about besides Lego art?

Cooking. I like to cook. If I wasnt an artist, I would probably be a chef.

Favorite spot in New York?

Clearly, my art studio.

What is the perfect working mode like when working on a project?

I go into a trancelike state when I am working. I dont know if it is perfect, or even healthy, but so far it works

for me for making art.

In your opinion, how will you define creativity?

It is all creativity. Everything is creativity. You can find it with almost very action.

What do you like most about what you do?

Watching people viewing my artwork for the first time. I enjoy seeing peoples reactions to artwork created from

something with which they are familiar. Everyone can relate to it since it is a toy that many children have at home.

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MASS MoCA

Columbus Museum of Art

New York Public Library

Spot Gallery

Moss Gallery

Avant Gallery

Sullivan Goss Gallery

Nassau Country Museum of Art

DAmour Museum of Fine Arts

Art Museum of South Texas

Flinn Gallery

Kimball Art Museum

American Swedish Museum

Time Warner Center

Mesa Contemporary Arts Center

Central Park

New Orleans Public Library

The Art & Culture Center

Mulvane Art Museum

Lancaster Museum of Art

North Adams, MA

Columbus, OH

New York, NY

Paris, FR

New York, NY

Miami, FL

Santa Barbara, CA

Roslyn Harbor, NY

Springfield, MA

Corpus Christi, TX

Greenwich, CT

Park City, UT

Philadelphia, PA

New York, NY

Mesa, AZ

New York, NY

New Orleans, LA

Hollywood, FL

Topeka, KS

Lancaster, PA

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This book was designed by

Nicole Tui te and printed digi -

t ia l ly in Phi ladelphia on

coated McCoy Si lk 80# text

paper and coated McCoy Si lk

100# cover paper. The type-faces used include Memphis

LT Std and Helvet ica in vari -

ous type s ty les and s izes .

colo

phon

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Nathan Sawaya Artist Catalog

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