LEGO is something often associated with childhood, but Andy’s unique approach to LEGO inspired art has adults craving over his works. What is it about Andy’s artwork that sets him from the rest?
Imagine yourself entering a LEGO house where everything around you is LEGO. LEGO cameras, LEGO food, LEGO flowers, even LEGO paintings of Andy Warhol.
That’s the feel that you will get when you enter the Little Big Art exhibition, the first of it’s kind in world. Instead of the usual LEGO exhibition where you see sculptures and installations made out of little LEGO pieces, here you will see LEGO pieces magnified 20 times it’s regular size and merging together with the human world.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BNpAsVtAz2v/?taken-by=littlebigart.eu
The brain behind this ingenious concept is Andy Morris, a 33-year-old Cardiff based artist who has decided to dedicate his life to LEGO inspired art.
“Pop art human sized LEGO sculptures I suppose is the way to describe it. It’s probably something most people wouldn’t have seen before.” Said Andy. “It’s based on pop art, pop culture, but inspired by LEGO, so it’s taking famous pieces of art and recreating them with LEGO pieces but the scale of a human.”
Dropped LEGO ice cream is one of Andy’s signature works
When asked why he chose LEGO to inspire his artwork, he says that there’s a certain familiarity with LEGO, which connects to everyone in a certain way.
“There’s something reassuringly familiar about LEGO, everybody seems to have a connection with it. Whether it’s a current connection or a childhood connection. People recognize it, people are familiar with it, you don’t have to explain it to people.”
Andy might just be right about that because his unique approach to LEGO and pop art has received much attention locally and internationally. The first exhibition he held in Cardiff went on to become the busiest and most profitable exhibition the gallery has seen in 12 years. His 12-week-tour around the US was also a huge success.
Who knew, before his success in the art industry, Andy was living a steady, high-paid salary job in the finance industry. He left all that to pursue his passion in art starting from scratch.
“When the recession came around, finance was suddenly not a good place to be working in. I’ve always been creative, I figured if I’m going to leave finance I’d follow a passion this time.” He said. “It’s been a steep learning curve of course starting from scratch. It’s a bit of a difference trying to build your own company as opposed to having a good salary job in finance.”
Reusable Coffee Cups inspired by the LEGO movie
The success of Little Big Art didn’t stop Andy from creating more wonderful works of art. He is now also running a store called Bricks at Home, the perfect store for LEGO enthusiasts to include LEGO in their everyday lives.
“I’m an interior design by trade, so this is my combination of the interior design side of things and my love of LEGO.” He said. “I figured if I like them, surely other people would like them as well.”
Sure enough, people do love his designs. Many people have then contributed LEGO inspired designs for his store, such as the LEGO minimalist jewellery by Talia Sari, LEGO wall clocks by MOnkiStuff, the LEGO Bow Tie by Bowspoke and many other contributions.
LEGO bow ties for the dapper geek in you
That’s not all Andy keeps up his sleeve, he has one other project in which everyone can participate. The project is called The Travels of Roo, where everyone gets to see the many adventures of Roo the minifigure as he travels the world. Currently Roo has been to around 10 countries with Andy and many other countries with fans who also takes him travelling.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBOA2uJRdv5/?taken-by=thetravelsofroo
“Roo is based on myself, and I love to travel basically, so I got the little minifigure made, every place I go, I put him in front of a famous landmark and do some false perspective photography so the landmark’s always in the background.”
Roo now has a following of over 1000 in instagram and the response of the project has been great. Anyone who wants to take part in the Travels of Roo can purchase a Roo minifigure from Bricks at Home and upload pictures of him using the hashtag #ThetravelsofRoo. The best pictures will be featured in the website http://www.littlebigart.eu/thetravelsofroo
Following his success in the art industry, Andy only has a few words for aspiring artists out there, if it’s something you want to do, then you should go for it.
“If it’s a passion, if it’s what you want to go for there should be no reason why not to. I did it during a recession, the worst possible time to leave a good job and try and change your life but if it’s something you enjoy, you shouldn’t mind taking a step back because in the future you’ll take more steps forward.”
Andy’s current Little Big Art Exhibition will be held in Morgan Arcarde, City Center until 11 January 2017. The exhibition opens from Monday-Saturday 10:00-18:00 and Sunday 11:00-16:00
For more information on Andy and his works of art, visit AndyMorris.eu and LittleBigArt.eu