Excitement building for 'The Art of the Brick' Lego exhibit at TMA

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - When we were kids we thought we could build anything with them, only limited by our imagination. Yes, LEGOs were pretty much as good as the Internet.

We saw some Lego builds that probably never occurred to us, that take playing with LEGOs straight into the world of art in a display at the Tyler Museum of Art.

Nathan Sawaya decided there were better ways to express himself than being a New York lawyer, so he started playing with LEGOs. That makes perfect sense, right?

Chris Leahy, Executive Director of the Tyler Museum of Art, thinks so, but interpretation of works like "Yellow" are in the mind of the beholder.

"Is he opening himself up to the world or to new ideas? Or is he somehow tearing himself apart? You look at it; his sculptures are so accessible," Leahy said.

They're plastic toy bricks that are stacked the way anyone might start to stack them, but when Sawaya finishes, an amazing piece of art emerges.

"The grief, the character in this is pulling the screen apart, and what is he doing? But you are looking at this in LEGOs," Leahy pointed out.

"It is pretty astounding that these little tiny blocks, these little tiny boxes can actually convey emotion," I said to him.

"It is. I think that's one of the keys to the artist's creativity," he responded.

The sculptures are shipped in just a few pieces in custom crates. Leahy said if they had to put them all together themselves, "We wouldn't have it put together in time."

Sawaya also does 2-D LEGO art that looks like 8-bit pictures.

"When you're close to it, you can't see it, but if you step away from it, it's obvious. It's Alfred Hitchcock," Leahy said.

The sculptures are all LEGO. No structure inside holding them up, though some are given a little support with fishing line.

"I'm going to try to do an upright man, but I'm not sure how I'm going to get there," Leahy revealed.

"That's a lot of LEGOs," I observed.

That's a lot of LEGOs," he agreed.

Look, but don't touch, is 100 percent in effect at the exhibit, for obvious reasons.

The exhibition opens to the public Friday. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for seniors and kids are free. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Friday and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. and is located on the Tyler Junior College Campus on Mahon Drive.

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