LEGOs come to Cincinnati Museum

By: Aiyana Moore ~Staff Writer~

art-of-the-brick-cary-lin_3%20700x396
Photo courtesy of cincymuseum.com | The Art of the Brick Exhibit is the world’s largest collection of LEGO art.

Experience nostalgia like never before when you visit the Cincinnati Museum Center’s newest exhibit, The Art of the Brick. With more than 100 sculptures made entirely of LEGO bricks and spanning nearly 9,000 square feet, The Art of the Brick is the biggest LEGO artwork display in the world.

In fact, the exhibit is the first to use only LEGO bricks as an art medium.

The sculptures displayed at the Cincinnati Museum Center are the work of New York-based artist Nathan Sawaya. Sawaya began building his creations from individual LEGO bricks in 2002 and has since won numerous awards and written two best-selling books.

These LEGO brick sculptures range from small to large, with pieces such as a 20-foot long T-Rex that takes up an entire room of the exhibit. Not only does Sawaya’s The Art of the Brick feature classic pieces of art, such as Michaelangelo’s David and Edvard Munch’s The Scream, it also contains wellknown cultural icons, including Egypt’s Sphinx and Easter Island heads. Sawaya even has a rendition of Attack on Titan’s colossal titan breaching the wall.

Aside from the wellknown pieces, The Art of the Brick also contains several pieces that are new works attributed to Sawaya. Of course, merely looking at amazing LEGO sculptures isn’t nearly as fun as being able to build them, so the Cincinnati Museum Center created an interactive companion gallery to The Art of the Brick.

Brickopolis covers 5,000 feet and provides LEGO work tables, design-and-build displays and even themed days for artists of all ages. The “Design and Build” contests allow interested parties to create original LEGO artwork based on a theme for the chance to have their sculptures displayed in Brickopolis.

On theme days, visitors are given a Make & Take set of LEGO bricks for an additional $5 fee. Future theme days include Star Wars and Dinosaurs. Along with the contests, the Brickopolis exhibit will also host special events, such as a LEGO Minecraft Camp from Dec. 21-23 and a Harry Potter Camp on Feb. 15, 2016. The Art of the Brick is on display at the Cincinnati Museum Center until May 1, 2016.

Tickets are on sale for $19.50 at the museum website or by phone at 513-287-7001.