The Art of the Brick

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Life’s true face is the skull.

—Nikos Kazantzakis

first

iMPressions

skulls

The first official contact I had with the LEGO Group

was a cease and desist email. The company didn’t

like what I was doing and wanted me to stop doing

it. The email I received seemed like a form letter, with

only a vague sense of what I was actually attempting:

creating original art, using LEGO bricks as a medium. I

think they were more worried about my use of the term

“LEGO” properly than my actual artwork.

In any case, ceasing really wasn’t part of my plan. It

was fortunate that I happened to be an attorney at

the time, and I was able to recognize the message for

what it was.

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Today, the LEGO Group and I have a much better

relationship. But we’ve had some ups and downs.

I built Skulls in a moment of frustration with the

company. I wanted to do something that was “anti–

childhood toy,” that was about a really un-LEGO

theme: death. I looked for precedent and found

LEGO pirate sets with little skulls on the flags and

little skeletons for haunted-castle sets. I even built

Skulls in bright, happy LEGO colors—blue, yellow,

green, and red. Every brick I pressed was like, “Take

that . . . and that . . . and that!”

These days, I get together with the LEGO Group’s

leaders once a year. They talk about what the

company’s doing, and I talk about what I’m doing.

We part as friends. The LEGO Group has a product,

this fantastic children’s toy and a wonderful brand,

and the company wants to protect it. And I get where

it’s coming from, I really do.

I think in many ways, the LEGO Group has come to

terms with its role as a medium of play and art. Just

as a company that creates oil paints must celebrate

oil painters, too, the LEGO Group has learned it has

everything to gain from celebrating LEGO artists.

After all, it’s not just me these days, but a whole

community of artists.

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