CUSTOM LEGO^® MOSAICS BY AARON LIEPMAN

By day, I am a Professor at Eastern Michigan University, where I enjoy conducting research in my laboratory and teaching students about Cellular & Molecular Biology. When I am not in the lab or the classroom, I love creating art. While it may seem unusual for a scientist to moonlight as an artist, I believe that the same creativity needed for designing experiments is instrumental for making artwork.

My LEGO mosaic origin story…  While visiting a LEGO store in Chicago with my family, I was mesmerized by a huge LEGO mosaic, depicting the Chicago cityscape, on the wall outside the store. I had never dreamed of using LEGO to create two-dimensional artwork. I was fascinated by the way that subtle details, invisible up close, somehow emerged when I stepped back and viewed the mosaic from a different perspective and I was inspired to explore this art medium.

I tried to start “simple” and create a small (20″ x 20″) LEGO mosaic of a cartoon character (LEGO Hulk from the LEGO Marvel Superheroes video game) as a gift for a friend. I soon realized that I had misjudged the difficulty of this art project. I needed large quantities of LEGO bricks , and I needed many in colors not represented in the LEGO palette. To unlock a greater array of colors, I decided to paint LEGO bricks. This started with commercial spray paints and has evolved into custom formulations of artist-grade acrylics that I mix myself.

Through the years (and hudreds of thousands of bricks later…) I have continually refined my techniques while increasing the size and complexity of my artworks. I really enjoy creating LEGO mosaic artwork, and I hope you enjoy the artwork I have created. I would love to hear from you if you have questions or comments!