Nathan Sawaya - The Brick Artist

Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city. Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who has made a reputation for himself as being the Worlds foremost Lego artist. He constructs large scale sculptures and portraits built from standard bricks and has transformed standard lego into something new. Sawaya's parents bought him his first Legos when he was three years old. Even then, he showed signs of overachievement. He popped the plastic pieces together to create a 36-square-foot city.
Nathan Sawaya is the artist that has never grown up.

The 36 year old, New York based former lawyer can create anything from standard Lego bricks.  Whether it be a full size Tyrannosaurus Rex or a portrait of Lindsay Lohan.

Sawaya's parents bought him his first Lego kit for Christmas when he was three years old.  Even then he excelled in creating a 36-square -foot city!  " I'd sit there for hours, I had all these little Lego figures that I would send on adventures."

Whilst at university, unlike his fellow students who arrived with books and a computer, he arrived with Lego. His desk was covered with a model of Greenwich Village, the neighbourhood in Manhattan where his school was located.

He now makes a living from creating unique, one-of-a kind art creations commissioned by companies, charities, individuals, museums and galleries.  His works sell from £100 to tens of thousands of pounds.

He constructed his first portrait - a three-foot tall image of himself - while in college. It took him two days just to construct the eyes.  He still uses the same process to build Lego art that he used to create the portrait eight years ago.  First, he sketches the design onto grid paper with Lego bricks printed on it.  Then, using the grid paper as a guide, he assembles the work of art with Legos.

After qualifying as a lawyer, he entered an online Lego competition to find a Master Builder - and won.  He spent 6 months working for the Lego Company before branching off and opening his own art studio in New York.

Its here that he spends most of his time, starting the day with sketching out new ideas and the remainder building.  The hardest thing he finds is to stop building, " I know it sounds weird, but when you have found your passion, you don’t want to give it up.  You don't want to spend a second not doing it!"

A few years back, he thought, 'Instead of building models or cities, I wonder if I could build something big?' I wanted to do something gigantic, and I came up with a three-foot-tall self-portrait. Now I don’t think nothing is as traditional as a Lego piece—you really can build anything. People started asking me to build them things. One of my friends who works for Major League Baseball asked me to do the Major League Baseball logo, and now it hangs in his office. And I started to think, 'Wow, people actually like this stuff.'

" All pieces have their own challenges.  Even something as small as a model car can be difficult because when you're working with something smaller, you have to think about how you’re going to capture something tiny in these blocky bricks. For instance, I had to figure out a way to make square wheels look round. And I had to make the bricks look like seats. A three-dimensional face is one of the hardest things to create. You really have to build it over and over again to really capture someone's look."

Nathan Sawaya's work is currently touring the United States as ' The Art Of Brick'.  It is a collection of his most popular pieces and there are plans to bring the collection to the UK this summer.

Outside building his amazing creations, Sawaya unwinds by watching horror movies and reading Harry Potter books.  He has built his dreams in Legos. " I plan on never stopping," he says. " Just think how many I'll have when I grow up."