Cathy's Art Diary

Disappointing exhibition on the South Bank of sculptures in Lego by Nathan Sawaya. I say disappointing because I much preferred the previous show in Brick Lane. This exhibition concentrated on DC comic heroes and villains which made the models a bit samey. I thought the previous show had much more variety and was cleverer. It did give a great overview of the characters from DC Comics including lesser known figures as well as the iconic Superman and Batman. But as I’m not a big fan this was slightly lost on me. I did like one of the first rooms which had a round display of all the main figures made to the same scale. It gave a good view of the different costumes and was really colourful. I liked the way Sawaya created the effect of the curve of buttocks and breasts with square bricks. There was a room devoted to Superman with various models of iconic poses.   My favourite was a life sized flying figure hung at eye level. I loved the way the clock was breaking up at ...

Fun installation in Covent Garden of a Santa and his reindeer made of LEGO. OK I might be stretching this to include it in an art diary but it is public artistic work and if there can be whole exhibitions of work made in LEGO I decided I could have a fun Santa! It was designed and built by the UK’s only LEGO Certified Professional, Duncan Titmarsh, what a job! It was a lovely addiction to a busy shopping area at Christmas!

Interesting exhibition at the Old Truman Brewery of work by Nathan Sawaya made in LEGO bricks. I found the show a little pompous in places but some of the work was stunning. I particularly liked the figurative sculptures such as “The Swimmer” the top half of a swimming map on a glass table and the three large masks showing different facial expressions. The show was really well lit to make the best use of the shadows thrown by the bricks. I wasn’t so convinced by the pictures as the bricks gave them a rather pixilated effect. A few of the works were like shop displays such as the big dinosaur and the two op groups at the end but then I am a girl whose screen saver is the Queen and corgi made in LEGO in Hamley’s, so who am I to me snooty! Reviews Guardian Independent