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Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No it’s a Lego Superheroes Exhibition

Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No it’s a Lego Superheroes Exhibition

LEGO sculpture of Superman from London, UK. 28.02.2017. THE ART OF THE BRICK: DC SUPER HEROES - Artist Nathan Sawaya returns to London with the world's largest LEGO exhibition, inspired by Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The exhibition opens, in a purpose-built marquee in Doon Street car park, Upper Ground, on the South Bank. Photograph © Jane Hobson.

If you’re a fan of the humble plastic LEGO brick and a fan of superheroes it’s time for you to rejoice as the ultimate exhibition is here for you. From today (March 1st) at London’s Southbank Centre the mini brick is made mighty in Art Of The Brick: DC Superheroes.

Nearly two million of those perfect plastic pieces have been used to recreate sculptures of DC Comics superheroes and villains such as Batman, Superman, The Joker and Wonder Woman.

The works have been lovingly created by New York-based LEGO® artist (there really is such a thing) Nathan Sawaya. Formerly an NYC corporate lawyer Nathan reshaped his own life by taking the toy into the realm of contemporary art with his sizeable builds.

LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya stands in front of his LEGO made Batmobile Photograph © Jane Hobson.
Nathan Sawaya with Batmobile Photograph © Jane Hobson.

The show takes advantage of 80 years of rich history for the brand and features more than 120 original pieces all created from the iconic bricks. The life-size Batmobile (above) is made from half a million pieces and measures 5.5 meters.

(Read our interview with Berlin based animator Jakob Schmidt)

A picture of the LEGO sculpture of superhero The Flash
Someones in a hurry. Photograph © Jane Hobson.

Sawaya had this to say on the exhibition,

“Just like Superman, we all have our own story. This art collection is based on the elements of the journey of a super hero, including the moment in which we are all called to the adventure. As a kid I spent Saturday mornings sitting on the floor playing with LEGO and watching the DC Super Friends cartoons. I would imagine the people in my LEGO city would have super powers and could defeat any evil nemesis – which usually meant my sister’s dolls. So this new collection of artwork is a dream come true for me. It is an honour to re-imagine these seminal characters and stories in a new way, through my medium of choice,”

A close up of a sculpture of the supervillain The Joker. The Joker is giving a demonic grin. Photograph © Jane Hobson.
What a Joker. Photograph © Jane Hobson.

There’s some serious skill on show here. The MALESTROM once tried to assemble a LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon and was left exasperated by the whole experience.

The thought of putting hundreds of thousands of pieces together to build a moody looking Batman gives us shivers. Just for the sheer scale of the sculptures on display, this isn’t one to be missed, get your cape on and fly over to London’s Southbank Centre for Art Of The Brick: DC Superheroes.

The exhibition runs till September 3rd. For tickets go to www.aotbdc.co.uk

For more info on Nathan Sawaya’s art click here

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