This portrait, “Conner”, is comprised of thousands of triangular LEGO “wing plates” arranged on a white grid. When viewed from afar, you see the boy, set amongst a splash of color. Up close, the grid and triangular shapes form a lovely abstract pattern.  I enjoy watching viewers of the piece walk back and forth, watching the image emerge from the abstract!

 

 

Many large-scale murals built with LEGO bricks look good from afar but suffer looking pixellated, distorted, or clumsy when viewed up-close in normal rooms.  My primary objective in creating this piece was to make sure that this mural looked beautiful from up close.

The gridded set of triangles in rainbow-hues are satisfying abstract geometric patterns when you stand in front of the sculpture (above).  Only as you step away (below) do you see the image of the boy emerge from afar, which changes the viewing experience completely.

 

 

The triangular LEGO pieces are arranged in alternating patterns that are both flush and raised, and smooth LEGO “tiles” are mixed together with normal “studded” LEGO pieces.  All of this serves to give the sculpture lots of texture to engage your eye.

 

 

 

 

To my knowledge, this is the first time anyone in the world has ever created a portrait with LEGO bricks in this way.  I enjoy using LEGO bricks as a creative medium and continue pushing them to be used in ways that have never been seen before.

I designed this technique specifically for this portrait, Conner.  I’m happy with the results and will continue to create more portraits in this style.