Nathan Sawaya

Nathan is another one of those artists who takes something that we all know and love and makes it extraordinary. His material however was actually designed for being creative. Legos allow for him to create a sturdy structure while creating a style specific to him. The variety of colors also allow for each of his pieces to have different personalities even when some of them incorporate the same facial or bodily structure. The majority of his works incorporate the human body in one way or another. This leads me to a criticism of him which is that it seems like once you've created a figure, you now have the blueprints to creating another. One of the ways that Nathan overcomes this criticism is by creating figures in different poses, and in the process changing the blueprint of where the individual blocks go.Another criticism that I have personally is that he isn't very creative in naming his pieces. Generally, they are simply named the color of block he uses. Though this was probably an artistic choice on his part to allow people to analyze the piece without outside preconceptions, I feel that, rather than being artistic, it communicates that he didn't take the time to assign a purpose to each of his pieces.

"Yellow". 2006 Nathan Sawaya

This piece is very interesting in that it uses two different techniques in placement for the legos. Not only that, but the form itself is very well-executed. The overall concept of the piece is also very intriguing. There both is an attempt at realism and there isn't. It is realism in that the form is as exact as the medium allows. However it is pretty obviously fictional in that the chest cavity of the figure is being ripped open. In this way, I really think that Nathan enjoys playing with reality. The medium is actually really fitting for this purpose as well. It gives the piece a sort of childish feel as if a child has created the piece. Thats not to say that it is poorly done, but that the medium is most commonly used in the context of children. 

"Green". 2008 Nathan Sawaya

This is yet another example of Nathan playing with reality through the use of legos. Again, the preciseness of the figure is remarkable, especially within the context of the rigid blocks. One thing that he did differently with this piece was create a much more surprised expression on the face of the figure. All of the different elements of the piece, meaning the color, the stance that the figure is in, and the face point to this emotion of being surprised or almost disgusted. 

"Grey". 2006 Nathan Sawaya

I hope you have noticed a trend here with his pieces. The major difference here is that the full figure isn't incorporated into the piece. Not only that, but he also plays with scale in the piece making the face much bigger than an actual one. One thing I really appreciate about this sculpture is that it gives the impression of the box being hollow. I also really like the shine that the darker blocks give to the flat exterior of the box. The scale that he used also allows for him to add a significantly larger amount of detail.