Lego to the Museum
The Art of Brick (Damaris Galeano/The Corsair)
A short video introduces award-winning artist Nathan Sawaya upon entrance into the “The Art of the Brick” exhibition at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, CA. Sawaya creates his pieces from everyday objects, and in his global touring exhibit, his own original art is displayed alongside recreated works of Michelangelo’s "David", Van Gogh’s "Starry Night" and Da Vinci’s "Mona Lisa".
Classical music guides guests through the exhibition, playing overhead to accommodate the classical paintings...of LEGOs.The toy-brick paintings are slightly three-dimensional, having them spring to life in painstaking detail.
The sculptures make themselves known next. Here is where you can see smaller recreations of historic sculptures like "The Winged Victory of Samothrace", also called the "Nike of Samothrace", which is originally a marble Hellenistic sculpture of Nike, and "The Thinker" which takes up just a small portion of the tiny platform.
Sawaya, a corporate Lawyer-turned fine artist, shows imminent attention to detail. Some of the sculptures are striking for their size alone, like the 20-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton and the 7-foot Moai figure from Easter Island.
Others play on the imagination, like the original sculpture “Yellow” which shows the torso of a man entirely made of yellow bricks tearing open his chest revealing a hollow inside amidst the flow of loose yellow bricks that have poured out.
“The Starry Night”, a painting by Vincent van Gogh, in lego form. (Damaris Galeano/The Corsair)
For the photography inclined, a multimedia collection of LEGO brick infused-photography is also featured, highlighting award-winning photographer Dean West. In each photo there is an object or two replaced with a LEGO sculpture, and those items in the photo are displayed in the room along with the photos.
"It really was an interesting exhibit," said LEGO enthusiast Matthew Garcia. "LEGO's are my childhood. I would spend hours building my sets and I remember how long that would take me. Not to mention the pain in my fingers after building for so long. What [Sawaya’s] done here is really quite amazing."
At the very end of the exhibit, there are small tables with LEGO's where kids can build their own creations. However, with such small tables and so many children, a turn to build with the LEGOs on the way out is guaranteed to nobody.
"It was really cool I guess, but I wish there was more kids stuff," said 9-year old Elijah Cruz as his parents led him away from the colorful bricks. "I think I can do some of that at home though, I have lots of cool LEGO's."
The exhibition proves that all one really needs is some imagination and a million LEGO bricks.
A close up on the individual lego pieces used for each installment. (Damaris Galeano/The Corsair)
At this time the California Science Center is staying open and following the CDC health recommendations, but advises visitors to call ahead if they are unsure of any possible closures. "The Art of the Brick" will be on display through September 7, 2020.
