No longer just for child’s play, plastic toy building bricks have become material for fine art. The New York sculptor, Nathan Sawaya, is one of the most prominent of contemporary artists creating fine art with LEGO® blocks. Sawaya’s work, exploring themes of identity, elevates brick art to a new phase of artistic expression through large-scale sculptures that portray complexities of the human condition. Nathan Sawaya: Recent Works is organized by Elaine Berger for the museum’s Contemporary Collectors Circle in cooperation with the Agora Gallery in New York.
Nathan Sawaya is well known for his groundbreaking fusion of pop art and surrealism within artworks comprised solely of LEGO® building blocks. Says Sawaya: “By working with an unconventional medium, I work within the trappings of a self-imposed prison.” His gripping images of human figures are alive with emotion. While at times ironic, the works also expose and comment on raw elements of the human experience.
Work by Nathan Sawaya is found in public and private collections including the National Marine Corps Museum, Neiman Marcus, New Orleans Public Library and The New York Times. The installation at Nassau County Museum of Art includes the eight-foot-high Pushing Against, a red figure with raised arms, and the five-foot high The Courage Within, a mostly grey work highlighted by a view into the figure’s red abdomen. Other works in the exhibition include Trapped, a two-foot-high red figure enclosed within a box; Strength of Spirit, a two-foot high hand holding a small human figure; and Goodbye, a two-and-a-half foot high erect grey figure losing its parts as it walks away.
Exhibition Dates: December 10, 2011 – March 18, 2012 in the Contemporary Gallery.
Nassau County Museum of Art is located at One Museum Drive (just off Northern Boulevard, Route 25A, two traffic lights west of Glen Cove Road) in Roslyn Harbor. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Docent-led tours of the exhibition are offered at 2 p.m. each day; meet in the lobby, no reservations needed. Admission to the galleries in the Arnold & Joan Saltzman Fine Art Building is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (62 and above) and $4 for students and children (4 to12) and includes same day admission to the Art Space for Children (Tuesday-Sunday, 12-4:30 pm). Members are admitted free. Admission to the Art Space for Children only is $5 for adults and $4 for students, children (aged 4 to 12) and seniors (aged 62 and above); children under 4 and members are free. There is a $2 parking fee on weekends (free for members). The Museum Gift Shop is open during museum hours.
Nassau County Museum of Art, governed by a privately elected Board of Trustees, is chartered and accredited by New York State as a not-for-profit, private educational institution. The museum’s programs and exhibitions are made possible through the support of Nassau County under County Executive Edward P. Mangano and the Nassau County Legislature, the museum’s trustees, memberships, corporate memberships, event and exhibition sponsors, admissions, special events, private and corporate donations, and government and foundation grants.
Educational programming at the museum is made possible through the generosity of Bank of America, David Lerner and Associates, Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Former NYS Senator Craig Johnson, NCMA Ball and Benefactors Dinner, New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), and Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation with additional generous support from, Astoria Federal Savings, Capital One Bank, Mary A.H. Rumsey Foundation, Milton & Sally Avery Foundation, Nassau County Bar Association’s WE CARE Fund, The North Shore Autism Circle, NYS Senator Kemp Hannon, NYS Assembly Member Charles D. Lavine, NYS Assembly Member Michelle Schimel and TD Bank.
Call (516) 484-9337 for current exhibitions, events, hours and directions or log onto www.nassaumuseum.org.
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