The Art of the Brick

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I was never a fanatic, but I still found Strawberry

Fields profoundly moving, especially the first

time I went.

Let me set the scene. You’re in Central Park in

the most famous city in the world, surrounded

by trees, the buildings and Christmas lights

twinkling in the background. All around you

are strangers, many of whom, like you, are a

long way from home. It’s winter, so it’s dark and

cold and you should really be indoors getting

warm. Instead, you’re out under the sky, heavens

above you, singing songs that you all learned

in different places and that mean something

different to each person singing. There is an

amazing universality to the gathering, something

reassuringly and unbreakably human about it.

There is hope, too, as if by coming together and

singing, you can bring John a little closer. Years

later, when I was starting to make a name for

myself as an artist, I found myself thinking about

him and the impact of his art a lot more.

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I took the self-portrait he’d done in 1968, which

ended up on the cover of “Imagine,” and did this

very simple piece. I played around with the color

and made it a shadow work to give the flat drawing

some depth. I then suspended the pieces on near-

invisible strings to give the illusion that John’s face

is floating. I felt this made John more reachable, a

little bit like the nights in Strawberry Fields did. You

can actually put your arm through his portrait, and

almost figuratively pass through John.

By coincidence, after I made this piece, I

happened to be sitting across a hotel breakfast

table from writer David Sheff. David used to work

for Playboy in its pomp and was the last person

to interview John before he died. David got some

unique access to John and was still close to Yoko

Ono. I was talking to someone about my LEGO

art, and David was considering writing a book

about LEGO building at the time, so he introduced

himself and we started talking. I told him about

the Lennon piece, and he asked for a picture of it

and if he could send it to Yoko. So here I was, this

young budding artist, and my art is being shown to

Yoko Ono. She emailed me and said it was really

beautiful. It was so encouraging, so mind-blowing,

first, that she had even seen it, and second, that

she would take the time to respond to it. If ever

I’m feeling down, I can still go to Strawberry Fields,

stand there, take a look around, and then return

home with a spring in my step.

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