VISUAL ARTS

The Art and Culture Center of Hollywood is very pleased to present its third exhibition of the work of New York-based artist Nathan Sawaya. In the 2012 exhibition of The Art of The Brick, Sawaya will present a selection of new works not seen previously at the Center. Previous exhibitions of Sawaya’s work have been held at the Center in 2008 and 2010 – both exhibitions broke all previous attendance records in the Center’s 30+ year history.

Sawaya is a former attorney who gained national attention in 2004 by winning LEGO®’s nationwide search for a professional Master Model Builder. His creations in the years since have resulted in enormous artistic and popular success. His exhibitions have set international museum and gallery attendance records, won him critical acclaim, earned him a wide range of high profile commissions and resulted in appearances on such TV shows as The Colbert Report, Late Night With David Letterman, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. He was even featured on the iconic quiz show Jeopardy! with a category titled “The LEGO Artistry of Nathan Sawaya.”

Sawaya’s early work included reproductions of such landmarks as a 7-foot-long replica of the Brooklyn Bridge and the post-Katrina work, Rebirth of New Orleans, which is on permanent display at the Main Branch of the New Orleans Public Library. He’s built a life-size Tyrannosaurus Rex and a replica of photographer Joe Rosenthal’s famous Battle of Iwo Jima photograph (on permanent exhibit at the National Museum of the Marine Corps).

Sawaya’s recent work has evolved to imbue an emotional content that might be considered antithetical to a hard-edged plastic toy such as LEGO. Sawaya shows a mastery of the human form. Regardless of the piece, Sawaya’s work inspires a sense of wonder and astonishment in gallery-goers who can’t help but wonder, “How did he do it?” Sawaya will share some of that magic in his Day Build on Saturday, June 9, 2012, when he does a live assembly of a new LEGO sculpture in the Center’s main gallery.