Nathan Sawaya's artworks made from Lego bricks are on show at the exhibition Photo: Courtesy of the organizers

 

A Lego brick tattoo must have been on Nathan Sawaya's thumb for a long time. When he showed it to visitors at his solo exhibition in Shanghai recently, it looked a little faded.

"Every time I press down on the bumps of each brick to make sure there is a tight fit, the bumps will leave little marks on my fingers and thumb," Sawaya said. "So, one day, I was just thinking, what better way to pay tribute to my medium of choice, why not permanently ink those marks onto my thumb?"

Sawaya's "medium of choice" refers to his decision to abandon a career in law to become a professional brick artist. In 2004, the New York University law school graduate who had been an attorney in Manhattan for several years, determined to put down his briefcase and pick up the Lego bricks that were sitting in his house to build works of art.

Nathan Sawaya's artworks made from Lego bricks are on show at the exhibition Photo: Courtesy of the organizers

 

"For me at that time, a terrible day of building bricks was better than the best day of being a lawyer," Sawaya recalled. "It really helped me to return to the world and relax."

There are now more than 1.5 million colored bricks in Sawaya's art studio in New York and he has become one of only 11 Lego Certified Professionals in the world. He is also a Lego Master Model Builder.

Since 2007, Sawaya's touring brick art exhibition, The Art of the Brick, has entertained and inspired people around the globe, from New York and Portland, to Sidney and Singapore. Last year in Taipei, over 800,000 visitors experienced Sawaya's brick exhibition.

The exhibition focuses exclusively on Lego as an art medium; all the creations on show were constructed from nearly 400,000 Lego bricks, which Sawaya began to make as early as 2000.

Nathan Sawaya's artworks made from Lego bricks are on show at the exhibition Photo: Courtesy of the organizers

 

Sawaya received his first set of Lego building bricks for his 10th birthday, a gift from his father. "I made them into a small toy dog and named it Boxer since my parents didn't allow me to keep a real pet dog," Sawaya recalled.

"That was when I realized the magic power of bricks," he added.

Xie Dingwei, the curator of Sawaya's exhibition in Shanghai, believes that Sawaya is more a contemporary artist than a brick builder since his brick creations have gone far beyond the concept of children's toys, and are artworks with high appreciation value.

"For me, Lego building bricks are not only for children, but also for adults, especially adults who have great pressure in their daily lives. I hope my brick creations can express thoughts for them or inspire them to think," Sawaya said.

Nathan Sawaya's artworks made from Lego bricks are on show at the exhibition Photo: Courtesy of the organizers

 

At Sawaya's brick exhibition in Shanghai, there are large-scale sculptures of ordinary objects like a pencil and a cello, as well as the largest sculpture that Sawaya has ever made: a 6-meter wide, 1.8-meter high dinosaur constructed from 80,080 bricks (pictured below). There are also more ambitious, unusual works, like ones with human forms and faces.

The bodies and faces are never perfectly beautiful, but are twisted or wrecked with sad facial expressions.

Self is a work that Sawaya created for himself. It is a human figure dressed in a suit and tie with a white shirt and leather shoes. Bursting forth from the figure's torso is a red figure whose face is exactly the same as the suited figure's.

Nathan Sawaya's artworks made from Lego bricks are on show at the exhibition Photo: Courtesy of the organizers

 

On the descriptive text, Sawaya wrote, "Taking a leap is hard. I used to be a lawyer. There was nothing wrong with being a lawyer, but I always knew there was another me, another me as an artist, lurking inside my body. Then, one day, I decided to let this 'artist me' out, and I know I will never look back."

Another classic brick piece that Sawaya created in 2006, Yellow, is also featured in the exhibition. It is a half-length portrait from the waist up composed of yellow bricks (pictured right). As the figure opens a gaping hole in his chest with his own hands, a cascade of bricks tumble to the floor. "Yellow always draws a lot of attention," Sawaya said, "and I think we grown-ups appreciate how cathartic 'opening oneself up to the world' can be for our souls. For me, this work is about the metamorphosis I have been through on my journeys."

For his first exhibition on the Chinese mainland, Sawaya specially created a life-sized brick sculpture of the Terracotta Warriors.

Nathan Sawaya's artworks made from Lego bricks are on show at the exhibition Photo: Courtesy of the organizers

Date: Until October 27, 11 am to 9 pm (Monday to Thursday), 11 am to 10 pm (Friday to Sunday)

Venue: 9/F, Super Brand Mall 正大广场9楼

Address: 168 Lujiazui Road 陆家嘴路168号

Admission: 50 yuan

Call 4000-406-5106 for details