Building it

These sculptures are larger-than-life sized.  Grandpa contains 35,646 pieces and took over 335 hours to design and build by my assistants Jung Ah, Patti, and Evan over the course of 6 months.  The sculpture is built around a custom-welded metal armature (including a cheat… the shovel is our exposed metal armature!) and every LEGO piece is glued in place, one by one.

Granddaughter has over 11,000 pieces and took my assistants Jung Ah, Geoffrey, and Ji Sun a combined 200 hours (2 months) to design and build.  It’s also built around a custom-welded metal armature and fully glued, piece by piece.

Two copies of Grandpa took 6 months for my assistants Evan and Patti to build (670 hours!)

Above, Geoffrey, Jung Ah, and Jisun discuss some of the design details on two copies of the Granddaughter.

Passers-by (above) watch our art handlers load Grandpa into the truck for shipment to our crating facility.  Below, NYPD was curious but unalarmed.

My assistant Patti puts the finishing touches on while Jung Ah admires a last-minute addition – the mustache!