PARIS (WSVN) — A New York attorney completely switched careers to become one of the world’s eight Lego master builders.
Nathan Sawaya went from a high-powered attorney to a master Lego builder, and he’s built more than just a name for himself. “I wanted to do something that made me happy,” Sawaya said.
He left his job at a New York law firm when he was 32 to dedicate his life to Legos.
“I wasn’t happy as a lawyer, and creating art made me happy,” Sawaya said. “And using Lego bricks made the art very accessible, and so I just decided to leave the law firm behind and be a full-time artist, that plays with toys.”
Sawaya, who is now in his 40s, has showed off his work all over the world and has picked up high-profile fans over the years.
During his presidency, Barack Obama posed with one of Sawaya’s installations of monochrome life-size men sitting on park benches in Washington.
Bill Clinton has a sculpture in his office and Lady Gaga used one in a music video.
https://twitter.com/ArtOfTheBrickDC/status/583615077607153664
The Art of Brick
Lego Gaga
By Nathan Sawaya #contemporary #LEGO #Sawaya #art #LadyGaga pic.twitter.com/i2A6VOfAX0— Kim Kaos (@KimKaosDK) September 27, 2014
His latest constructions consist of a series of DC Comics superheroes.
Sawaya used more than 2 million individual Lego bricks to create 120 life-size Lego sculptures, including Batman and Wonder Woman.
“Well, I wanted to explore themes of good and evil. And I turned to the pages of comic books, where you really see heroes and villains play out the themes of good and evil, and it just made sense — let’s play with that on a bigger scale.”
Sawaya’s creations sell for five and six figure sums.
His critically acclaimed work has also been displayed at the Kennedy Center and the New York Public Library.
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