Nathan Sawaya is an artist who works with bricks. You know, the plastic building bricks everyone knows. All apologies to those whose childhood did not include LEGOs — and, no, Duplo is not even close to just a bigger version, so please just stop.
So what? What is so special about a grown man — a former corporate lawyer, in fact — who now plays with a child’s toy? Sawaya does not play; he builds masterpieces — in particular, an 18-foot Batmobile! Let me just type that again just to reaffirm, Nathan Sawaya built an 18-foot Batmobile with LEGOs!
Sawaya has several exhibits going on throughout Europe in anticipation for the upcoming installment titled: “The Art of the Brick: DC Comics”, which will be displayed in Sydney at the Powerhouse Museum starting on November 20 and ending on May 1, 2016.
The Batmobile sculpture was not just a solo effort, however; Sawaya had a blueprint from an actual DC artist! Jim Lee, a DC co-publisher, fielded ideas at a comic con then drew the sketch right there for Sawaya. “This is a dream project,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “This is the Batmobile! What other vehicle is so iconic?”
Sawaya, in part, explained the process of building the sculpture:
So as that was how this all started. I used his drawing as a bit of a blueprint to come up with the actual Lego structure and then created this Batmobile brick by brick.
Nathan Sawaya: thank you for showing all of us that sometimes the most beautiful artwork is inspired by the kid in us.
Check out his website for a list of current “Art of the Brick” exhibitions, along with future dates.