Feature: Art of Brick exhibit debuts in Italy, showing playfulness in art

Some 80 sculptures, over 600,000 tiny plastic bricks of every color assembled, and recreations of some of the world's most iconic masterpieces.

"The Art of the Brick" exhibit of American Nathan Sawaya opened in Rome on Oct. 28, giving Italians a taste of how artistic inspiration can mingle with playfulness, and pour out through a most "surprising" material.

"The exhibition captures people's curiosity and imagination, and is being shown for the first time in Italy. So far, Rome's audience has surely met our expectations," Italian curator Fabio La Gioia told Xinhua.

Visitors in the first week surpassed 16,000, and were expected to reach 20,000 with the second weekend of opening.

The creations of the New York-based artist were staged at Spazio Eventi SET Gallery over 1,200 metres, allowing each sculpture the necessary space to surprise, and maybe inspire, adults and younger ones.

The exhibition included recreations of classic painting such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, Rembrandt's Self Portrait, and Eduard Munch's The Scream.

All of them made of a material as unconventional for the art as familiar from many people's childhood.

"Nathan's work makes us forget the sculptures are made just of Lego, irrespective of the visitor's age," La Gioia explained.

"You know it, you actually see the Lego bricks, but then you are overcome by imagination and the feelings each sculpture is able to stir. This process is very typical of art."

Visitors could also enjoy iconic classical artworks such as Michelangelo's David and Venus de Milo, and the Parthenon.

Yet, a consistent part of The Art of the Brick exhibit was actually made of original creations, some of them conceptual, some more ironical and playful.

The Italian curator indeed mentioned one of those to explain why he wanted to bring Sawaya's work to Italians.

"One of the sculptures shows this yellow man whose arms are stretched out to form a ladder, which is going upwards," La Gioia said.

The meaning of the work was that strength to overcome life's obstacles and achieve our goals would be just within us, according to the artist.

"It is a sophisticate concept that goes far beyond the recreational nature (of a Lego sculpture); it is a reflection on the human condition, which is the best thing art can offer us."

Further items showed a yellow man ripping his chest open, a blue man sitting with a contemplative air, and an amazing six-metres skeleton dinosaur constructed from 80,020 Lego bricks.

"One of my aims as an art curator is to reconnect Italy to a certain kind of artistic expression that is less common for us," La Gioia further explained.

"Italians are very much attached to their ancient cultural heritage and classical arts, and sometimes miss newest forms of artistic expressions, even though they might find them awesome when they see them in New York, London, or other modern cities."

Sawaya's artwork would entail something that Romans, and Italians overall, could not deprive themselves of, the curator added.

"Everything able to stir an emotion of big surprise is welcomed in Italy, and even more so if there is a deep cultural content behind the artistic creation, since Italians study a lot about creativity, human civilization, and arts through history," he said.

"So, it is always a good idea to make such connection," he added.

The exhibition, which has toured through Asia, Australia, America, and some countries in Europe, will last in Rome until Feb. 14. Endit