The Art Of The Brick

I was in Manchester, today, for meetings at one o'clock and then at half past six, which left me with a sizeable opportunity for some non work related fun in the afternoon. I filled that latter part of the gap with after work drinks at The Anthologist* with Charlie and Hannah but, before that, Simon and I went to see an exhibition at the Great Northern Warehouse called 'The Art Of The Brick'

If you live or work in and around Salford or Manchester, you'll have seen the adverts for this, what promises to be an exhibition of art created using Lego. I was rather looking forward to it but - spoiler! - it was a bit of a disappointment. 

Firstly, there was price of admission, which I will reveal later, but at the point of payment, Simon and I were still optimistic. The exhibition started with a short film of the 'sculptor' himself, Nathan Sawaya, talking about his work. The main takeaway from this was that he was very keen that we understand that he is an ARTIST. (A point reinforced by some of the text accompanying the exhibits, which itself was a little trite.)

But, really, he's not an artist. He's certainly very clever with Lego, impressively skilful. Perhaps he's more of an artisan than an artist? Anyway, the first room in the 'gallery' - just some unimaginatively partitioned space - has various works in which Sawaya has recreated various objects, as in today's photo. What he's done with these pieces is genuinely clever, I think.

After that there is a room where we found the pieces that are the closest to being artistic, i.e. works of imagination. But there is nothing that makes you stop and think. Nothing, as Simon pointed out, that makes you reflect on the use of Lego or building or how things are made. For me, I'd like to have seen something that made me think "Wow! I'd never have thought of doing that with Lego!"

The third room was full of well-known popular works of art - such as 'The Scream' - recreated with Lego. Again, clever but that's about it. 

The fourth room we agreed was our favourite; some amazing photos by Dean West, into which Sawaya's pieces had been Photoshopped. The actual Lego pieces were there in the room but we just enjoyed the photos, in which the Lego was at worst a distraction. 

And that was it. There was a Lego room on the way out, where you could play with Lego, and, inevitably, a shop but that was it. For £14.50. You know me, I don't like to be negative, but, really, I wouldn't bother. 

*I can never remember this place's name and call it The Apologist, which, I think, is a far better name for a bar.

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Reading: 'The Sound Of Tomorrow' by Mark Brend