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Great masterpieces of art history recreated with Legos

by Redazione , published on 08/01/2022
Categories: Art and artists / Disclaimer

There are several artists who use Lego bricks to recreate the great masterpieces of art history, resulting in fun and surprising works. We present five of them in this gallery.

Recreating the masterpieces of art history through Lego bricks. For years, a number of Italian and international artists have been giving life to entertaining reinterpretations of international art cornerstones using the popular game for children and adults, which we have all tried our hand at, and which never ceases to fascinate. We offer below a gallery featuring five artists who, in different ways, have tried their hand at this art form.

1. Udronotto (Marco Pece; Turin, 1953)

Turin-based artist Marco Pece, better known by his pseudonym “Udronotto,” was among the first to use Lego to recreate works of art, inserting the little yellow men into his compositions to bring to life the masterpieces of antiquity by then distributing the works in the form of photographs. For Udronotto, it’s all about creating essentially ... parodies. “A passion for art in all its expressions,” the artist writes on his website, “has driven me to revisit works by great masters of the past with irony, but still with great respect, and continuing on a temporal path I have also approached contemporary artists. The choices of the subjects of my parodies of the art world are related to a personal taste of mine and a sometimes very long search for feasibility.” Visit the artist’s website.

Udronotto, Omaggio a Leonardo da Vinci — Udronotto, *Homage to Leonardo da Vinci*

Udronotto, Omaggio a Edward Hopper — *Edward Hopper*

Udronotto, Omaggio a Pellizza da Volpedo — *to Pellizza da Volpedo*

2. Marco Sodano (Agrigento, 1992)

The young Sicilian artist and designer Marco Sodano, a degree in Advertising Communication and Art Direction from the IED in Milan, and a path that has led him to work as an advertising and creative designer in Germany and Hong Kong, has used a very particular technique, used for Lego’s Immagina campaign in 2014: in fact, Sodano has broken down the masterpieces of art history into pixels and used Lego bricks, juxtaposed by color, to recreate the image resulting from his operation of reduction into... squares. Visit the artist’s website.

Marco Sodano, La dama con l'ermellino di Leonardo da Vinci — Marco Sodano, Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with

Marco Sodano, L'autoritratto di Van Gogh — , Van Gogh’s self-portrait

Marco Sodano, Le fils de l'homme di Magritte — , Le fils de l’homme by Magritte

3. Nathan Sawaya (Colville, 1973)

Nathan Sawaya, an American from Washington State, is perhaps the most famous “brick artist” in the world, so much so that his biography is even included on the official Lego website. A contemporary artist, he uses only bricks as his medium of expression, working tirelessly in his studios in New York and Los Angeles, where he stores millions of bricks to create his works. On some occasions, Sawaya has recreated the great masterpieces of ancient sculpture, with astonishing results. Sawaya is also the only person in the world who has been both a LEGO Master Model Builder and a LEGO Certified Professional. Visit the artist’s website.

Nathan Sawaya, Il David di Michelangelo — Nathan Sawaya, Michelangelo’s David

Nathan Sawaya, L'Augusto di Prima Porta — Nathan Sawaya, The Augustus of Prima Porta

Nathan Sawaya, La Venere di Milo — Nathan Sawaya, The Venus de Milo

4. Prince Lego (Lee Ki-Young)

Lee Ki-Young is a Korean graphic and motion designer who likes to call himself “Prince Lego” on social media, because in some of his works he has recreated real sets with Lego bricks to recreate the great masterpieces of art history. Very active on social media, where he usually posts his creations, Lee Ki-Young reinterprets not only famous works, but also movie scenes (or their posters), famous characters, without neglecting landscapes and ironic works. Visit the artist’s website.

Lee Ki-Young, La Venere di Botticelli — Lee Ki-Young, Botticelli’s Venus

Lee Ki-Young, La colazione dei canottieri di Renoir — Lee Ki-Young, Renoir’s The Rowers’ Breakfast

Lee Ki-Young, La lattaia di Vermeer — Lee Ki-Young, Vermeer’s The Milkmaid

5. Stefano Bolcato (Rome, 1967)

An artist trained at the Capital’s Academy of Fine Arts who launched his career in the 1980s, he has never made a secret of his passion for Legos, with which, like everyone else, he played as a child, and he used them in this case not as a material but as a source of inspiration. In fact, Bolcato is a painter, and the bright colors of Lego give him the opportunity to paint oil paintings where Lego men become the protagonists of scenes in which the artist intervenes on important social issues. But that’s not all: in fact, many of Bolcato’s paintings reread masterpieces from art history, always with the little yellow men as protagonists. Visit the artist’s website.

Stefano Bolcato, Ragazza con l'orecchino di perla — Stefano Bolcato, Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring

Stefano Bolcato, La Gioconda — Stefano Bolcato, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa

Stefano Bolcato, Ritratti dei duchi di Urbino — Stefano Bolcato, Piero della Francesca’s Portraits of the Dukes of Urbino

Great masterpieces of art history recreated with Legos

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