I collect Lego but I keep it all in my garage…

A good friend of mine today pointed me to an article in today’s Daily Mail which further opened my eyes to the world of Lego ‘art’. The question I am asking now though is, is this art? Or is this just adults playing?

Lego art for the masses

Lego art for the masses

There are regular events in the UK, the article tells me, where hundreds of enthusiasts, who are called AFOLS, or ‘adult fans of Lego’, meet to discuss their obsession with Lego and show off their creations. Lego itself has cottoned on to this area of the market and now has designed a few Lego sets for adults such as the Empire States Building and the White House. An association called LUGNET runs a forum for AFOLS to join in order to discuss Lego art. Are these people geeks, adult children, or artists?

I would argue that these Lego enthusiasts are artists. In particular take the example of the man named in the Daily Mail article as just ‘Gary’ who one day decided to create a huge model of the face of Yuri Gagarin. It took him five months and 20,000 bricks. This is surely a work of art, rather than play.

One crucial difference between these AFOLS and the official Lego artists mentioned in my previous blog (the LCPs) is that they do not use glue, or even blue tack, to fix their Lego together. This renders their art as temporary art (like my ketchup bottle). Besides that, and the fact that they aren’t officially recognised (not all of them sell their creations or even exhibit them beyond their immediate circle of friends and family), I can see no difference between them. My enthusiasm for Lego art is growing by the day.

And I’ve also been pointed in the direction of this… There are some amazingly creative people out there.

Lego Bible art

Lego Bible art

References:

Vincent Graff, ‘Lego Maniacs!’, Daily Mail online (27 December 2012), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253927/Lego-Maniacs-Thought-Lego-kids-Meet-men-women-spend-20-hours-week-playing-millions-little-bricks.html?ito=feeds-newsxml [last accessed 28 December 2012]

The Brick Bible, http://www.thebrickbible.com/home.html [last accessed 28 December 2012]

 

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