Nathan Sawaya: An Artist First (S2 E9)

Kites and Strings

For a hot second this episode was gonna be called Nathan Sawaya: "From Lawyering to Legoing," and as much as that description of Nathan Sawaya and his life is accurate, it does not capture what we hope to convey in this episode. Yes he was a NYC corporate lawyer and a quick study of his work will tell you "yes", Nathan uses Lego bricks to create large sculptural work, but one will also find that amazing, emotive and powerful works of fine art step immediately to the fore. It will be quite easy to understand why he receives national acclaim and CNN referred to it as one of the top-ten must-see exhibitions globally.
In this episode we hear of Nathan's unique journey from art student, to corporate lawyer and back to artist. He shares about how creativity was essential in helping him through the hardships of being in an unfulfilling job and career, but also how it helped him through mental illness (Depression). We learn too how more recently he is using his art to tackle issues dear to him like climate change and extinction through a collaboration between he and photographer, Dean West called PERNiCiEM. Yes we learn about the the process and the particulars of working with Legos, but we learn of some angles to that work that are surprising and quite refreshing. Its a joy learning of the universality and approacability of Nathan's string grabbing and kite flying via the Lego brick.
Web Presence for Nathan: http://www.nathansawaya.com/biography.html
https://www.brickartist.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeTY70VPAg0

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