Sean Kenney uses LEGO toys to createNathan Sawaya is the first contemporary artist to bring LEGO®, the world’s most popular toy, into the art world as a medium. His obsessively and painstakingly crafted work captivates viewers by its beauty and playfulness. His ability to transform LEGO® bricks into a interesting figures, devotion to scale and color perfection, and conceptualization of action of the subject matter enable him to elevate a basic toy to fine art status. Since his first solo exhibition, Sawaya’s artwork has grabbed the attention of art critics and pop culture novices alike. His artwork has been shown in major art institutions throughout the world and held in the collection of both prominent private and public collections. His unique sculptures and renowned touring exhibition, THE ART OF THE BRICK®, continues to inspire creativity as well as break attendance records globally. Nathan Sawaya is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, recognizing his artwork and cultural achievements.
In 2014, with the belief that “art is not optional,” Sawaya founded The Art Revolution Foundation, for the purpose of making art a priority in our schools and our homes. He has been a speaker at Google Zeitgeist, TEDx, Yahoo! and at the Clinton Library. Sawaya attended New York University and worked as a corporate attorney in New York City before following his dream to be an artist and work exclusively with LEGO®. Sawaya lives and works between his two studios in New York City and Los Angeles.Sean is officially recognized by The LEGO Group as a trusted business partner, since 2005. Commission a custom LEGO sculpture.German artist Felix Jaensch has an uncanny ability to translate the ruffle of parrot feathers or the lumpy fur of orangutans into lifelike LEGO sculptures. He shares many of his original designs on Flickr and a few pieces including the red fox are available is DIY kits through MOC Nation. He’s also trying to get support on LEGO Ideas for his guinea pig design.
(via Matt’s Brick Gallery) See related posts on Colossal about animals, Lego, sculpture. Artist John V. Muntean (previously) constructs bulky objects that spin on a single axis that when paired with a light source reveal a multitude of projected shadow images. Two of his latest creations were built with tens of thousands of LEGOs, each with three separate images contained within a single sculpture. Watch the videos below to see how the work. See related posts on Colossal about Lego, sculpture, shadows. LEGO designers have developed a new flashback kit, an advanced model that replicates many of the iconic elements of a vintage 1960 Volkswagon Beetle. Built using 1,167 pieces, the bright blue replica has several operational features, including a pop-up hood and truck, flip-down seats, and a removable roof to peep the steering wheel and other accessories found inside. Designers made sure not to leave out any detail, including a model of the original 4-cylinder air-cooled engine, fuel tank, rounded mudguards, interchangeable license plates, and tiny window decals.
On the roof of the vehicle, LEGO also added a rack that fits a tiny surfboard and cooler containing ice and bottled drinks. In total, the new kit is 15 centimeters high, 29 centimeters long, and 12 centimeters wide. You can learn more about the details of the kit in the video below before it becomes available to the public on July 17. See related posts on Colossal about cars, Lego, toys. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so hungry looking at Lego blocks! A Japanese Lego creator who goes by the nickname Tary has sculpted one of the most delicious-looking collections of food made entirely from Lego blocks. From fruit and vegetables to bento boxes, junk food and even desserts, Tary has almost all major food groups covered! Of course Tary doesn’t only create food. He sculpts Gundam robots and Star Wars characters, each more impressive than the last. But it’s really his food creations that have won him the most recognition. Like that pizza slice! Who could have thought dripping cheese could be so realistically portrayed with hard blocks?
One of Tary’s most recent creations was the Tendon tempura rice bowl. Using a combination of white blocks for the rice and yellow and orange blocks for the deep-fried shrimp tempura, he created a magnificent-looking meal that won 1st place in an original Lego model contest. The entries are on display through May 31, 2016 at ClickBrick Lego store in Odaiba, Tokyo (located within the Venus Fort shopping complex – Gmap) if you’d like to visit. (Syndicated from Spoon & Tamago) See related posts on Colossal about Lego, sculpture. LEGO-based artist, author, and curator Mike Doyle (previously here and here) has collected another impressive set of LEGO masterpieces in his lastest book Beautiful LEGO: Wild! by No Starch Press, a book that explores natural wonders from undersea landscapes to a family of sea otters produced from over 3,500 LEGO pieces. Unlike Doyle’s last book which featured sculptures depicting sci-fi horrors and ghoulish nightmares, this book collects the works of several dozen artists who capture natural scenes from our planet’s Animal Kingdom and beyond.
One of Doyle’s own pieces that appears in the book is a new piece titled Appalachian Mountaintop Removal (2015), a work composed of more than 10,000 pieces that directly references the act outlined in its title. Mountaintop removal is a form of coal mining affecting the Appalachian Mountains that levels mountains, poisons aquifers, and damages surrounding wildlife indefinitely. You can learn how to help the destruction of these natural resources as well as view more of Doyle’s massive lego sculptures on his blog here. See related posts on Colossal about books, Lego, mountains, sculpture. Jason Allemann of JK Brickworks designed this superb perpetual kinetic sculpture depicting the Greek myth of Sisyphus who was condemned to roll an immense boulder up a hill for eternity. In the video below he explains how the device works in detail, and for the more engineering-minded you can download a building guide and parts list from his website. (via The Automata Blog) See related posts on Colossal about Greek mythology, kinetic sculpture, Lego.