Nathan Sawaya
Nathan Sawaya
Nathan Sawayais an American-based artist who builds custom three-dimensional sculptures and large-scale mosaics from popular everyday items and is best known for his work with standard LEGO toy bricks. His art creations are commissioned by companies, charities, individuals, museums and galleries all over the world...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSculptor
Date of Birth10 July 1973
CityColville, WA
CountryUnited States of America
LEGO is universal. So many people enjoy it, from all different walks of life, all different ages, all different cultures. When I was in Africa, I had LEGO bricks with me and I met some people who had never heard of LEGO, they had never seen it before and yet as soon as I gave them a few bricks, they immediately got it.
Art makes better humans, art is necessary in understanding the world and art makes people happy. Undeniably, art is not optional.
When I was in South Africa, I was meeting with people who never heard of Lego bricks. And yet, when I was like, 'Here they are,' they immediately got it. They saw the appeal, were snapping bricks and creating their little creations right there immediately.
There's a fun, nostalgic aspect to Legos - people connect to the art on a different level. But it's also a medium that lets me design anything I can imagine. I especially enjoy creating curvy forms using rectangular pieces. Up close, you notice the sharp angles, but when you back away, the corners blend into curves.
I do hear from people at my exhibition about seeing these things made from this toy from their childhood, and it brings them back. They'll go and buy a set of Lego from the gift shop because of that nostalgia and seeing it at the art exhibition.
So many people have asked me about getting their own LEGO Oscar that I submitted it to LEGO Ideas so that everyone has the ability to get one.