Nathan Sawaya
Nathan Sawaya (born July 10, 1973 in Colville , Washington ) is an American artist. He is best known for building three-dimensional sculptures and large-scale mosaics with ordinary Lego bricks. He receives commissions for his art creations from companies, charities, individuals, museums and galleries around the world.
Life
Raised in Veneta , Oregon , Sawaya attended New York University , where he graduated with a law degree before working as an attorney at Winston & Strawn in Hollywood .
He first gained national attention in 2004 when he gave up his profession as a lawyer and started working full-time as a LEGO artist.
After working for the LEGO company for the next six months, he gave up this job and opened an artist's studio in New York City in 2004. As a professional artist, he is not an employee of the LEGO toy company, but has been officially named one of the best LEGO builders in the world by LEGO and is recognized as a LEGO Certified Professional . He is so far the only person who has been recognized by LEGO as both a LEGO Master Builder and a LEGO Certified Professional.
His creations include a two-meter-long replica of the Brooklyn Bridge , a five-meter-long Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, and a life-size Han Solo figure. His best known pieces include three sculptures in human form with the titles Yellow (yellow), Red (red) and Blue (blue). The sculpture Blue was sold by the Agora Gallery in 2010 for an undisclosed amount.
He had his first solo exhibition in the Lancaster Museum of Art in spring 2007 under the title The Art of the Brick . It was the world's first major museum exhibition to focus solely on the use of LEGO bricks as an art medium.
The first exhibition in the southern hemisphere of Sawaya's works took place in June 2011 in Federation Square in Melbourne . The exhibition was then shown in other cities in Australia with stations such. Shown in Adelaide and Sydney .
In July 2012, Sawaya's Asian tour began with record attendance in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung. Further exhibitions took place at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore (November 2012 to May 2013) and at Discovery Times Square in New York City (since June 2013).
His work is currently exhibited at the Avant Gallery, Agora Gallery, Artsicle and Discovery Times Square in New York City.
Sawaya has submitted two projects under the online name "brickartist" on the LEGO Ideas website (where Lego builders can show their creations and website visitors can vote for LEGO to officially release this model as a construction kit): Small Yellow (the little yellow) and Oscar.
Collections / installations
Sawaya runs two full-time artist studios: one is in Manhattan and the other is in Los Angeles. It is estimated that Sawaya owns more LEGO bricks than any other individual, with around 1.5 million LEGO bricks in each of his two studios.
In 2012 Artnet awarded Sawaya the 8th place among the most popular artists worldwide.
Sawaya's work is now part of many well-known art collections, including:
- The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York
- The Time Warner Center public art exhibition in New York
- The National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia
- the public art exhibit at the New Orleans Public Library in New Orleans, Louisiana
- MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts
Sawaya in the media
Sawaya has appeared on numerous television shows, on The Colbert Report , where he gave Stephen Colbert a life-size statue of Stephen Colbert, on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman , on the NBC Today Show , in Conan on TBS and on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show on ABC. He has also been featured in various newspapers, including Newsweek , Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter, CNN and the Wall Street Journal. In an April 2009 issue of Mythbusters , Sawaya appeared as a consultant.
Web links
- Personal portfolio with descriptions and photos of all works of art and construction projects.
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sawaya, Nathan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 10, 1973 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Colville , Washington , United States |