Sawaya’s art is currently touring North American museums in a show titled, The Art of the Brick. It’s the only exhibition focusing exclusively on LEGO as an art medium. The creations, constructed from nearly one million pieces, were built from standard bricks beginning as early as 2000.
Born in Colville, Washington and raised in Veneta, Oregon, Sawaya’s childhood dreams were always fun. He drew cartoons, wrote stories, perfected magic tricks and also played with LEGO. Sawaya attended NYU. After college he rediscovered LEGO but not as a toy, but rather as a medium.
Today Sawaya has more than 1.5 million colored bricks in his New York art studio. His work is obsessively and painstakingly crafted and is both beautiful and playful. Sawaya’s ability to transform LEGO bricks into something new, his devotion to scale and color perfection, the way he conceptualizes the action of the subject matter, enables him to elevate an ordinary toy to the status of fine art.
According to journalist Scott Jones, “Sawaya is a surrealist mash-up of forms and artists. Imagine Frank Lloyd Wright crossed with Ray Harryhausen, or Auguste Rodin crossed with Shigeru Miyamoto, and you start to get a sense of where Sawaya is coming from.”
Sawaya’s art form takes shape primarily in 3-dimensional sculptures and oversized portraits. He continues to create daily while accepting commission work from around the world. Check out his work at http://brickartist.com/
His work has been featured in collections including:
• Lancaster Museum of Art in Lancaster, PA
• Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY
• Art and Culture Center in Hollywood, FL
• Time Warner Center public art display in New York, NY
• Qwest Field public art display in Seattle, WA
• The Toy Museum in Bellaire, OH
• Dreier Collection in Santa Barbara, CA
• National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA
• Central Park public art display in New York, NY
• New Orleans Public Library public art display in New Orleans, LA
• American Swedish Museum in Philadelphia, PA
• Discovery Center Museum in Rockford, IL
• Stamford Museum in Stamford, CT
Join E. W. Bradfute, Yolanda Renée, Morgan Lawrence, Melissa Burk, and Nathan Sawaya as they discuss these Hot Topics – The Latest in Politics –The latest in Hollywood – and The Latest in the ridiculous – Join us, just follow this link and listen live on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 @ 9:00 PM EST
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/
Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling (646) 716-7597. Your opinion is important! The live, Internet talk-radio show will stream from the host page or an archive will be available at the same link immediately following the show or listeners can subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/
About “PREMIUM VIEWS”
“PREMIUM VIEWS” is an interactive, live Internet talk-radio show that focuses on current affairs, the hottest topics, and Hollywood gossip. Hosts E. W. Bradfute, Melissa Burk, Morgan Lawrence, and Yolanda Renée give opinions, state the facts, and express their concerns. Callers are encouraged to call (646) 716-7597to listen or ask questions. Your opinion is important! The stream and archives are available at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/
About BlogTalkRadio
BlogTalkRadio is a free, web-based platform, which allows any user with a phone and a computer to host a live, interactive Internet broadcast. Hosts call into the service by phone, managing callers on the web-based host dashboard. Shows stream live directly from the host’s BlogTalkRadio web page with archives available for all past shows. BlogTalkRadio has been featured on ABC News, The Washington Post, Portfolio, Talkers Magazine, and TheStreet.com. The citizen-broadcasting network can be found at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com

