“Shape Heads” are part of Nathan Sawaya’s LEGO exhibition at Discovery Times Square
NATHAN SAWAYA: THE ART OF THE BRICK
Discovery Times Square
26 West 44th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Through January 5, $16.50 – $21.50
866-987-9692
www.brickartist.com
www.discoverytsx.com
For more than ten years, New York-based artist Nathan Sawaya has been using a rather unique material to create his sculptures: LEGO bricks. And not any kind of special LEGO bricks; Sawaya, a former lawyer and LEGO employee who was born in Washington and raised in Oregon, uses only store-bought LEGOs to make his awe-inspiring replicas of human bodies, animals, fruit, bridges, dinosaurs, slot machines, bowling pins, chess pieces, motorcycles, buildings, sports equipment, cars, landmarks, houses, celebrity portraits, and more. Essentially just a big kid, Sawaya, an NYU graduate, has now brought together approximately one hundred of his unique, colorful works for “The Art of the Brick,” a playful exhibition at Discovery Times Square. Put together by hand based on drawings and computer research and using glue to keep them from falling apart (primarily during shipping), the sculptures can take Sawaya anywhere from a few hours to a few months to complete, depending on their size and detail. A life-size human, for example, consists of fifteen to twenty-five thousand bricks and takes between two and three weeks to finish. In addition to the Discovery Times Square show, his miniature versions of Patience and Fortitude, the lions who guard the New York Public Library, can be seen just inside the Fortieth St. entrance.
TICKET GIVEAWAY: “The Art of the Brick” is open daily from ten a.m. until seven, eight, or nine o’clock through January 5, and twi-ny has two sets of four tickets to give away for free. Just send your name, daytime phone number, and all-time-favorite childhood building toy to contest@twi-ny.com by Friday, October 4, at 3:00 to be eligible. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; two winners will be selected at random.