“The Art of the Brick” displays sculptures by artist Nathan Sawaya, made entirely of Legos
An internationally touring art exhibition made entirely of LEGO bricks is drawing visitors downtown this winter. A combination of fine art, pop culture and the plastic bricks, “The Art of the Brick,” created by artist Nathan Sawaya, features more than 100 sculptures constructed from over one million LEGO bricks.
In the exhibit, located on Fourth Street, Sawaya uses the familiar toy to create large-scale works that explore emotion, movement and form. “I think using Lego bricks as a medium really created something people can connect with,” Sawaya says. “I can use this toy to create something that expresses emotion.”
The exhibition features original sculptures alongside LEGO reinterpretations of iconic artworks, including Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Edvard Munch’s The Scream. What’s more, a nearly 20-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton made entirely of LEGO bricks serves as a centerpiece of the exhibit as well.
The Cincinnati stop also includes interactive elements, allowing visitors to build their own creations, as well as a LEGO-based photography collection produced in collaboration with award-winning photographer Dean West.
For the holiday season, the exhibition has added a special 12 Days of Christmas series. Inspired by the traditional carol, the installation brings each verse of the song to life in LEGO form, from the partridge in a pear tree to the twelve drummers drumming. Here for a limited time, the 12 Days of Christmas Exhibit will only be on display through December.
“What I tried to do was take all the elements of the songs and build them out of Legos,” Sawaya says. “So, what we have is about a quarter of a million bricks… I thought back when I was a young child playing with Lego bricks as a toy, I would often listen to Christmas carols around the holiday time and one of those was the Muppets singing The Twelve Days of Christmas so it kind of brought me back there.”
“The Art of the Brick” has toured more than 100 cities worldwide and has been described by CNN as one of the world’s most popular exhibitions. It has been visited by over 10 million people across the world. For more information and tickets, visit the exhibit’s website.
