The Art of the Brick: Lego sculptor's blockbuster exhibition set to open in London

A 20ft Tyrannosaurus rex will feature in a show of 75 Lego sculptures coming to London for the first time
Art: a creation from the exhibition
Alistair Foster3 June 2014

A 20ft Tyrannosaurus rex will feature along with versions of the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo in a show of 75 Lego sculptures coming to London this year.

US artist Nathan Sawaya used more than a million Lego bricks to make the sculptures, over 4,188 hours.

The works, which are being shown in the UK for the first time, have to be transported in four shipping containers, with previous destinations including New York, Los Angeles, Melbourne and Shanghai.

Other items on show include human sculptures such as Yellow — a man ripping his chest open — and a blue man, sitting contemplatively.

Sawaya’s interest in Lego began when he was five but he only started to work with it as an artist 13 years ago.

Nathan Sawaya: The Art of the Brick

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He said: “My parents were always encouraging me creatively.

“When I was about 10 years old, I wanted a dog. They said no, so I built one out of Lego. That’s when I realised I didn’t have to build what was on the box or in the instructions.

“Then I lost my faith in my arts. I went to law school and became a corporate lawyer. But at nights I would come home and have this need for a creative outlet. I began building with Lego in 2001, I put a website together and began to get commissions.”

The Art Of The Brick will be at the Old Truman Brewery from September 26 until January. Sawaya said: “I’m very excited to be bringing it to London — London is the city I’ve received the most requests to come to.

“Part of the popularity is that Lego is so universal. Every part of the world where I bring the exhibition, people are engaged because they know the toy so well.”

The artist said he hoped to “elevate this simple plaything to a place it has never been before”.

There will be an interactive zone where visitors are encouraged to make their own pieces.

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The Art of the Brick exhibition opens at the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane oinSeptember 2014. Tickets go on sale today at artofthebrick.co.uk

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