Story by Donald H. Harrison; photos by Sky M. Masori
SAN DIEGO – LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya has solved one of Balboa Park’s greatest problems: how to see as much as possible in an hour or so.
With 18 museums of varying size and subject matter to tempt them, San Diegans know that it takes days, even weeks, to visit them all – especially if one stops to enjoy the plazas, fountains, gardens, and Spanish colonial architecture that contribute to Balboa Park’s charm.
Recently, with my nine-year-old grandson Sky sprinting from exhibit to exhibit at “The Art of the Brick” at the Fleet Science Center, I came to realize that Sawaya’s 100 or so LEGO creations encapsulated the kinds of experiences we might have had if we also had visited the Museum of Natural History, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Centru Cultural de la Raza, and the Hall of Champions, among others.
This exhibition is one of four simultaneously being shown around the globe–so prollific an artist is Sawaya.
A large dinosaur dominates one of the galleries in San Diego. It took tens upon tens of thousands of LEGO bricks to construct it, not to mention Sawaya’s enduring patience. A Balboa Park visitor could go across the way to the Natural History Museum and see a similar sight, although that skeleton is made from bones and plaster, not from LEGOs.
An exhibit that caught Sky’s eye included three well known statues: The Venus de Milo; Augustus of Primo Porta, and David by Michelangelo. Standing together they represented centuries of art history – and to my mind substituted on this day for a visit to the Sculpture Garden of the San Diego Museum of Art. The David also provided a “Jewish angle” for this publication.
The Venus de Milo, at some time in antiquity, had its arms snapped off, and for Sawaya recreating such an image is a very familiar exercise. Many of his LEGO figures are dismembered to some degree – for example, his “Yellow” piece which has a man tearing his chest open and his insides spilling out. Another figure shows a man holding his severed head above his body; and yet another imagines a body disintegrating before our eyes.
There are LEGO reproductions of two dimensional images; among them, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci; and Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh.
One could imagine these masterpieces hanging either in the San Diego Museum of Art or the neighboring Timken Art Gallery.
One politically relevant sculpture, showing a man pulling apart a wall, could have–in my imagination–been featured at the Centro Cultural de la Raza, which among other topics examines relations between the United States and Mexico.
A striking image is of a surfer fully engaged on a wave – the kind of scene one might expect to see at the San Diego Hall of Champions, which is dedicated to sports.
The crowds visiting this exhibition, which will remain in Balboa Park through Jan. 29, range in age from toddlers to grandparents. Each age group seems equally fascinated. Sawaya’s imagination and skill are boundless.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. Grandson Sky is a fourth grade student.