It was a leap of faith, but when American artist Nathan Sawaya walked away from a steady paycheck and a powerful position as a mergers and acquisition lawyer, things just worked themselves out. “I say that the worst day as an artist is still better than the best day as a lawyer,” he reflects.
You might wonder how a suit-clad fellow ended up playing with Lego in the first place. The answer is pretty straightforward: instead of hitting the treadmill or throwing back a few cocktails after work to blow off steam, Sawaya opted for a creative outlet. “Sometimes I painted, sometimes I drew, and sometimes I sculpted. I even did a series of sculpture out of candy,” he recalls.
But Lego was what really allowed Sawaya to build on his talent as an artist, and the hobby organically grew into something bigger. “Eventually my apartment was packed wall-to-wall with art. I put together a collection of sculptures on a website as a virtual gallery and I was getting commissioned to create works of art. On the day the website crashed from too many hits, I decided to make a change in my life” he explains. “I left my day job behind to become a full time working artist. My colleagues were fairly supportive of me leaving, and maybe a bit jealous.”
Since that fortuitous moment in 2004, Sawaya has opened a studio in Manhattan and one in Los Angeles (he keeps 1.5 million bricks in each of these) where he spends 10 to 12 hours a day assembling and gluing Lego bricks into sculptures, and sometimes chiselling away at mistakes. He has toured the globe with his exhibition, ‘The Art of the Brick’, which was recognised by CNN as a Top 10 ‘Global Must See Exhibition’. Indeed, Sawaya is now one of the world’s foremost Lego builders, and his most famous work includes a 2.1-metre-long replica of the Brooklyn Bridge, and a life-size tyrannosaurus rex. “Families who may have never been to an art gallery are drawn to my exhibitions because of their familiarity with the toy. It is about the democratisation of the art world,” he explains. Ultimately, his approach, record-breaking exhibits and high-profile commissions prompted Artnet to rank Sawaya as the 8th most popular artist in the world in 2012.
“There is something amazing about Lego bricks when they are used to sculpt large forms because up close the viewer is looking at tiny rectangles full of sharp corners and right angles. But then, when the viewer steps back, all those corners blend together and the sculpture’s shape comes into view. The right angles become curves, and instead of distinct lines, the viewer sees a human figure. There is a symbolic element because as in life, it is all about perspective.”
Having coined the phrase “Art is not an optional,” Sawaya is a firm believer that art is an integral part of a well-rounded, happy life. He’s even established Art Revolution, a non-profit organisation that works with schools to build and sustain art programmes. “It’s not a nice to have, it’s a must have,” he concludes.
