My name is Nathan Sawaya. And I am an artist who works primarily with LEGO bricks. I used
to be an attorney. [ Laughter ]
>>Nathan Sawaya: And I decided to leave that behind. So, when -- well, this kind of sums
up my life, looking at myself in LEGO. Now, I should say, before I get started, I
give this talk mainly to rooms full of 9-year-olds. So try and keep up.
[ Laughter ] >>Nathan Sawaya: How did I get to where I
am? I was -- I had very accommodating parents. They let me have a 36-square foot LEGO city
in our living room. It was behind the couch. So you didn't necessarily see it when you
walked into the room, but it made for a good conversation piece. And, as I grew up, when
I was about 10, 11 years old, I thought I want a dog. So I asked my parents,"Can I get
a dog?" And they said, "No, you cannot get a dog."
So what did I do? I tore down my LEGO city, and I built myself a life-sized LEGO dog.
It was rectangular, boxy. So I called it a boxer. And that was my first "aha" moment.
This toy can be used for more than just building cars and trucks, for building buildings. You
can create all sorts of things with it. So I'm going to pepper my talk here with shots
of different artwork I've done over the years. Sometimes it will correlate to what I'm saying
and sometimes not. So, as I grew up, high school, yes, I still
had LEGO bricks. Got to college. Yes. I still had LEGO. It was tucked under my dorm room.
My roommates never knew it was there. But I had LEGO in my life because it was my creative
outlet. I went to art classes in college. And I got out of college. And I thought I
-- I didn't have faith in my art. I didn't believe that I can make a career out of it.
So what does a budding young artist do? They go to law school.
[ Laughter ] >>Nathan Sawaya: I studied, studied law at
NYU. And I would even use LEGO bricks in law. Created a replica of NYU law school one night
just to ease the tension, I suppose. As I got out of law school, had some loans.
So I got a career practicing law in New York City. I was doing M&A and securities. Very
exciting stuff. And I find myself coming home at the end of a long day, and I would need
to create something. Sometimes it was drawing. Sometimes it was painting. And sometimes it
was sculpting. Now I would sculpt out of all sorts of media,
sometimes clay, sometimes wire, sometimes even candy. I did a series of sculptures out
of candy that got some attention. They were -- sculpting with candy is a lot like sculpting
with LEGO. it's additive in nature. You're using these little pieces to create these
larger forms. So I had a thought what could I do with this toy from my childhood? Could
I create large scale artwork out of LEGO? I did some larger scale pieces. Friends and
family encouraged me to do more. And I put a Web site together. Brickartist.com. And
wouldn't you know it people started commissioning pieces from all over the world. And I realized
there was something there. So, as I was an attorney during the day, I
would come home and work hours at night creating artwork of all sorts for all people all over
the world. It was the day my Web site crashed from too
many hits that I realized, okay, there's something to this. So I left the law firm behind, and
I went to play with bricks full time. Now, as you can imagine, that got an interesting
reaction from folks. Friends and family, very encouraging. Colleagues, jealous. Bosses,
confused. I remember taking the walk -- my office was
the law firm at the Met Life building in New York City. I had to go up to the 42nd floor
and take the long walk to the corner office to tell my boss that I'm leaving the law firm
to go play with toys. And that was a big moment for me because I was taking this big transition.
I often get contacted from folks, like, how can I be like you? How can I take a transition
like that? And I think back to those times. And a lot of it was -- it was taking that
risk, but it was some preparation and also cutting out those negative people in my life.
That was a key component was taking all those people that weren't supportive, that were
questioning,"What are you doing? You're giving up a 6-figure salary, very secure job, health
insurance, to go play with toys?" And I had to just cut those people out of
my life. That is tough sometimes. Sometimes they're friends. But then you learn maybe
they're not. So I cut those people out. And I made that leap to becoming someone who
plays with toys all day. But it worked out, because I've created sculptures now for folks
from all continents. And I'm going to talk a little bit about my process.
I do glue my pieces together. I found that out because galleries, fine art galleries
do get very grumpy when they open a crate and there's a bunch of loose bricks inside.
So it's good to include a note that says, "Some assembly required." So I do glue everything
together as I ship them around the world. And I've done a variety of pieces. This piece
has become a little bit iconic. This called "Yellow." It's actually here out in the hallway.
It has become a bit of pop culture. I've seen it on the covers of jackets, book jackets.
I've seen it on album covers. I've seen it on T-shirts. I've seen it on a fashion line's
jackets. Some of this was done with my permission and some without. You remember I was a lawyer,
so it all worked out in the end. [ Laughter ]
>>Nathan Sawaya: As an artist, I like to eat. So I take on commissions from time to time.
And this was a very special commission. This was a replica of the Iwo Jima memorial. And
I was asked to do this for the National Marine Corps Museum in Quantico. And this was a great
opportunity for me because what we were doing is not just creating art out of a toy. We
were teaching kids about history through this medium they were familiar with. And that would
resonate, as I started my own exhibitions. Now I have taken on some interesting commissions
over the years. This is a replica of the New York Public Library's famous "Two Lions."
The two lions are "Patience in Fortitude." I believe this is called "Patience." As the
library celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, I was commissioned to create both the
lions for the library, which we debuted in front of the library exactly 100 years to
the day the actual marble statues were unveiled. So that was a very special commission. Again,
started to resonate with kids teaching them a little bit about history.
Now, some of my commissions are very random. One of the perks in my job is I get e-mails
every day from folks all over the world asking for the craziest things. Sometimes they're
very fun. Sometimes they're things I can't even think about doing. But it does lead to
some interesting commissions for certain folks over time.
And then those same folks come back to you and say now let's do something even crazier.
So that's been fun. This is an example just to give you a scale of how big that thing
is. And then, if you do it for one person, someone
else says, "Oh, I need one now." So that happens. But one of the most interesting things that
happened is I've been able to do commissions for museums. This is a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton
that measures about 20 feet long. That's actually me holding the skull there. That's for a museum
that's now in -- the piece is now in Australia. We found that kids really enjoy going to these
art shows at museums, because it's made out of this toy they're so familiar with. Right
now I have, I believe, let's see -- three major exhibitions touring, two in North America,
one in Australia, as well as minor exhibitions touring elsewhere. We're finding families
are showing up that have never been to an art museum in their life. Kids are going to
these exhibitions. And they've never, ever been to an art gallery, but they're drawn
because of the toy. They can connect on this level that they can't with other things. I
find that, when a child goes to a museum and they see a large marble statue, they can appreciate
it. But, when they go home that night, it's very doubtful they'll have a slab of marble
they can start chipping way at. But kids have LEGO. When they go to these
exhibitions, they get inspired to create themselves. It's amazing how many folks have contacted
me. Lots of parents who wrote me and say, "Thank you. We went and saw your exhibition.
The kids came home. They got inspired. They dug out all this LEGO brick from under the
bed. We haven't heard from them in three days." Thank you.
So that's pretty special. And what I'm seeing here is a lot of my museums
now that I partnered with are working with the local schools. And we're really teaching
kids about art, exposing them to the art world in a way that is unique, especially nowadays
when arts programs are getting cut from curriculum. It's very nice to see kids still exposed to
the art world. Now, I'm going to leave you with just what
I'm working on lately. This is the latest project
I wanted to come up with my own form of graffiti, street art, if you will. So I came up with
this little guy. I call him "Hugman." And that's because he will hug different things
-- park benches, signposts, whatever. And I've put him in hundreds of places all over
New York City as just kind of my thing to brighten people's day. They're fun. People
stop. They stop and take pictures of them. It's New York City, so they last a good hour
before they're gone. But they have been a popular item.
And I will leave you with this. It happened. You should have seen the guy when he came
out. He was not happy. [ Laughter ]
>>Nathan Sawaya: I'll leave you with this: People often ask me, did you do the right
thing? Did you make the right choice? With all deference and respect to Justice O'Connor,
who was here this morning, the worst day as an artist is still better than the best day
as a lawyer. [ Laughter ]
>>Nathan Sawaya: Thank you very much. Thank you.
[ Applause ]