NY Lawyer Now Plays With Legos for a Living
Nathan Sawaya.
Photo courtesy brickartist.com.
Updated: An after-work relaxation has turned into a New York lawyer’s main gig.
Playing with Legos that he forms into sculptures evocative of human angst earns Nathan Sawaya as much as $14,000 or more per piece, reports a recent Daily Mail article featuring photos of his work.
The New York University School of Law graduate formerly worked as an associate at Winston & Strawn. However, once he was inspired to work with Legos and saw how much friends and family enjoyed the sculptures, he posted them on his website, according to the Florida Atlantic University Press.
Commissions followed and “I realized that there was really something to it. So I went into it full-time, and now I’ve established a little niche for myself,” he tells the publication.
About leaving his legal career behind, Sawaya tells the ABA Journal, “I worked with some great people at Winston & Strawn, but as for the job, in my opinion the worst day as an artist is still better than the best day as a lawyer.”
He adds, “When I told the folks at the firm that I was leaving to play with toys all day, I think my bosses were confused, but my colleagues were jealous.”
For those who think that playing with Legos for a living is easy, however, an interview Sawaya did with MSNBC in 2004 may disabuse them of that notion. In an interview on the Countdown With Keith Olbermann program, which is reprinted on Sawaya’s website, the artist says he can spend months on one piece and may pull an all-nighter to finish it.
Now, a decade into his art career, Sawaya is widely known as “Lego Man.” The Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Fla., in Broward County will be exhibiting his work June 4 through August 15 and for those who wish to see the artist in action a “live build” day is scheduled there on June 5. The month of August features a contest for children and adults (separated into age groups) to submit their own Lego creations and have them exhibited and judged.
For more details about these events, read the full University Press article.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “These Lawyers Who Jumped to New Careers Tested the Waters First”
Last updated at 10:20 a.m. Thursday to add a photo and comment from Sawaya.
