Through 10/31 @ Armory Studios, Schenectady

“It’s for the adult who wonders what happened to that desire inside them to create, to build, to sit down at a table, sort bricks, and see where imagination takes you. You see how LEGO isn’t just for children. It’s for everyone.”

My relationship with LEGO is personal. While it’s a long and complicated one, that relationship is full of love.

I was never a builder—that was my brother’s thing—but to nobody's surprise, I was always one for the story and the lore. I am unashamed to continue to be a Bionicle fan (#UnityDutyDestiny. The Nuva are the best line, and Matoro was done dirty. Fight me.) and I’ve made some really incredible friends through LEGO IP. Hell, one of my best friends is a senior set designer with the company in their hometown of Billund, Denmark.

This isn’t about Bionicle—boo—but as I’ve grown older and watched my friends’ creativity in full force, I’ve grown to appreciate the art of the brick and build way more. So when I saw that LEGO Certified Professional (aka Master Builder) Nathan Sawaya brought his Art of the Brick exhibition to Schenectady, I knew I had to check it out.

According to LEGO’s website, Sawaya, a former Manhattan attorney, has more than 2.5 million bricks at his disposal, and with each art piece I admired, I found myself feeling that not a single brick was out of place. His high ability to sculpt in 3D cannot be understated. My friends and I found ourselves saying, “Wow! Look at the definition of those back muscles!” or considering the thoughtful intent in how he managed to create such depth in 2D using only the color of the bricks with his replica of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam. In a room of large colored skulls, we stood in front of each color trying to decide which identical skull had the most depth, despite being nearly flat and exactly the same as the others—save for the color.

I found myself admiring each piece of art the same as I would with any other traditional medium in The Met or MoMA—considering texture, depth, concept, and execution. My art history minor woke from hibernation for the day, leaning in to scrutinize a Rembrandt (well, kind of), or Van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Wedding, more than eager to vaguely point out to my friends all the intriguing symbolism that didn’t make it into the brick backdrop.

As a whole, the exhibition was laid out in a beautiful way, one allowing for appreciation across multiple themes—and left me wanting more.

That said, I wouldn’t call this an exhibition for children. Not that they won’t enjoy it, but the pieces in this exhibition were more conceptual and abstract. You’re not seeing animals, or airplanes, or Disney characters with jagged edges. It’s one for the AFOLs (Adult Fan of LEGOs), the classic art-admirers, the ones able to look at the human body as a work of art itself, or those who see human bodies and emotions as stories—the human condition—and consider how Sawaya translated it all with 90° angles and copyrighted colors.

Each and every time I find myself standing in front of massive LEGO builds, I admire them with awe. Building with LEGO bricks is so much more than just snapping together little rectangles, base plates, and crystal ball pieces (as seen in the Girl with the Pearl Earring piece). It’s bigger than that. It’s math and engineering, and an ability to visualize things from all angles. It’s… inspiring, and not just for children—it’s for the adult who wonders what happened to that desire inside them to create, to build, to sit down at a table, sort bricks, and see where imagination takes you. You see how LEGO isn’t just for children. It’s for everyone.

That’s what Sawaya’s magic of The Art of the Brick really does.