IN PIECES DEAN & NATHAN

IN PIECES
DEAN WEST & NATHAN SAWAYA
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IN PIECES
DEAN WEST & NATHAN SAWAYA
IN PIECES
The project features a series of tableau compositions based on ideas about nature, culture and identity construction. Identity as a
cultural creation has been heavily manipulated and commercialized, and this is prominently portrayed in this highly stylized
representation of contemporary life.
The images have been constructed by combining West’s modern photography techniques and Sawaya’s unique sculptures made out
of LEGO®. Key to the series narrative and aesthetic, Sawaya’s sculptures are much like the construction of a digital photograph.
Thousands of bricks are glued together to form recognizable objects much like the assembly of pixels in a digital image. The
similarities in technology not only help shape the aesthetic of IN PIECES, they are key to deconstructing each tableau composition.
In an awkward moment of self-awareness, the subjects appear frozen. An acknowledgment of their cultural arena is suffocating.
Individuals stand in recognizable but chillingly empty minimalist scenes derived from common features of the American landscape.
Their averted eyes gaze into nothingness, and a strange feeling of aloofness and displacement reverberates. The careful positioning
of the human figures, the subtle interactions and this special attention to geometrical design, echoes the influence of a cinematic
Hopper painting.
Using mostly frontal style imagery of the North American landscape, the simple unvarnished vernacular locations, reference the
American Picture Postcard. Pastel blues, greens and yellows wash across the photographs as if, they themselves, had also been
a hand colored lithograph. The imagery from a distance, appears entirely photographic, however as the viewer begins to digest the
imagery, each work reveals the brick by brick fabricated construction.
Tree, In Pieces 2012, Plastic Bricks, 48.0 x 22.0 x 20.0 inches, edition of 7
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“Tree”, In Pieces 2012, Chromogenic Print on Kodak Endura, 43.0 x 51.8 inches, edition of 7
“Pool”, In Pieces 2012, Chromogenic Print on Kodak Endura, 43.0 x 65.3 inches, edition of 7
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Flip Flops, In Pieces 2012, Plastic Bricks, 4.0 x 14.0 x 10.0 inches, edition of 7
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Towel, In Pieces 2012, Plastic Bricks, 32.0 x 17.0 x 10.0 inches, edition of 7
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Small Cloud, In Pieces 2012, Plastic Bricks, 14.0 x 21.0 x 14.0 inches, edition of 7
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“Hotel”, In Pieces 2012, Chromogenic Print on Kodak Endura, 43.0 x 43.7 inches, edition of 7
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Bucket, In Pieces 2012, Plastic Bricks, 18.0 x 15.0 x 15.0 inches, edition of 7
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Large Cloud, In Pieces 2012, Plastic Bricks, 20.0 x 22.0 x 47.0 inches, edition of 7
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“Bus”, In Pieces 2012, Chromogenic Print on Kodak Endura, 43.0 x 56.4 inches, edition of 7
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Mannequin, In Pieces 2012, Plastic Bricks, 32.0 x 13.0 x 8.0 inches, edition of 7
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Dog, In Pieces 2012, Plastic Bricks, 22.0 x 15.0 x 43.0 inches, edition of 7
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Tracks, In Pieces 2012, Plastic Bricks, 5.0 x 400.0 x 28.0 inches, edition of 7
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“Train”, In Pieces 2012, Chromogenic Print on Kodak Endura, 43.0 x 58.0 inches, edition of 7
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Umbrella, In Pieces 2012, Plastic Bricks, 28.0 x 33.0 x 33.0 inches, edition of 7
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“Umbrella”, In Pieces 2012, Chromogenic Print on Kodak Endura, 43.0 x 57.0 inches, edition of 7
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Dress, In Pieces 2012, Plastic Bricks, 54.0 x 34.0 x 44.0 inches, edition of 1
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“Dress”, In Pieces 2012, Chromogenic Print on Kodak Endura, 43.0 x 59.5 inches, edition of 7
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Columbus Museum of Art, OH 2012
Mass MOCA, North Adams, MA 2012
New York Academy of Art, New York, NY 2012
Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, Little Rock, AR, 2011
Sydney Town Hall, Sydney, Australia, 2011
Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa, AZ, 2011
Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River, MA, 2011
Mulvane Art Museum, Topeka, KS, 2011
Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY, 2011
Spot Gallery, Paris, France, 2011
D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA, 2010
Moss Gallery, New York, NY, 2010
Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA, 2010
Avant Gallery, Miami, FL, 2009
Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT, 2009
Kimball Arts Museum, Park City, UT, 2009
Art and Culture Center, Hollywood, FL 2008, 2010
Time Warner Center, New York, NY, 2008
Central Park, New York, NY, 2008
Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA 2007
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NATHAN SAWAYA
Nathan Sawaya is a New York-based artist who creates awe-inspiring works out of some of the most unlikely things. His art focuses
on large-scale sculptures using only toy building blocks: LEGO® bricks to be exact.
For years, Nathan’s touring exhibit – The Art of the Brick® – has entertained and inspired millions of art lovers and enthusiasts around
the globe. It is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on LEGO as an art medium.
Born in Colville, Washington and raised in Veneta, Oregon, Sawaya’s childhood dreams were always fun and creative. He drew
cartoons, wrote stories, perfected magic tricks and of course also played with LEGO. His days were filled with imagination. But
when it came time for college, Sawaya moved to New York City and attended NYU. He attended NYU School of Law and became
an attorney. But soon he realized he would rather be sitting on the floor expressing himself with LEGO bricks, than sitting in a board
room negotiating contracts.
It was then that Sawaya rediscovered his beloved LEGO bricks and indulged in his inner child to create what many believe is a new
art revolution using LEGO as an art medium.
Today Sawaya has more than 2.5 million colored bricks in his New York and Los Angeles art studios. His work is obsessively and
painstakingly crafted and is both beautiful and playful. Sawaya’s ability to transform LEGO bricks into something new, his devotion to
scale and color perfection, the way he conceptualizes the action of the subject matter, enables him to elevate an ordinary toy to the
status of fine art.
Sawaya’s art form takes shape primarily in 3-dimensional sculptures and oversized portraits. He continues to create daily with the
brick medium while accepting commission work.
In 2011, he was awarded the “Most Creative Unusual Artist” award by the Society of Unique Artists.
For more information about Nathan Sawaya and his artwork, visit www.brickartist.com.
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Winner of the IV International Arte Laguna Prize
Fotografica, ‘Fabricate’ Venice, Italy 2010
Illustrative Photographer of the Year
International Loupe Awards, Australia 2011
Pollux Award | Worldwide Photography Gala 2011
Directors Special Mention, Fabricate
Official Selection Prix De La Photographie Paris
Paris, France 2011
Advertising & Fashion Photographer of the Year
International Aperture Awards, Australia 2010
Applied Arts Magazine Winner, Canada 2012
‘In Pieces’
Emerging Photographer of Canada
Flash Forward, Magenta Foundation, Canada 2011
Applied Arts Magazine Winner, Canada 2011
‘Fabricate’
Applied Arts Magazine Winner, Canada 2011
‘Around the Bend’
International Photography Awards 2011
Lucie Foundation 2nd Place, Fine Art Pro, USA
AIPP Australian Professional Photographer Awards 2011
Creative Photographer of the Year Runner Up
Visual Artist of the Year 2010
Africa Photographic Awards, Johannesburg, South Africa
Winner in the 4th Annual Masters Cup
International Colour Awards, London, United Kingdom
Applied Arts Winner, Canada 2010
‘Fabricate’
Applied Arts Winner, Canada 2010
‘Every Drink Counts’ QLD Government
International Photography Awards Honourable Mention
Lucie Foundation, USA, 2009
Australia’s Top Photographer Nominee
Creative Magazine
Advertising Photographer of the Year
International Aperture Awards, USA 2008
Top 100 Emerging Photographers
Saatchi & Saatchi, Cannes, France 2008
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DEAN WEST
Dean West, “one of the world’s best emerging photographers” (AFTER CAPTURE MAGAZINE), has a highly conceptual and
thought-provoking style of contemporary portraiture. His body of work has been featured in top photography magazines, art galleries,
and received numerous international awards.
Born in small-town rural Australia in 1983, Dean’s love for photography began in his high school’s darkroom- one of the largest
darkrooms in the country at the time- and blossomed at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
After graduating in 2007 with a Bachelor of Photography with majors in visual culture and advertising, Dean formed a partnership,
Berg+West, which won nationwide acclaim as a high-end photography and post-production studio. Through clients like the QLD
Government and SONY, Dean quickly learned to transform stick figure sketches into intricate composited photographs with immense
detail and clarity.
In 2008, Dean was included in Saatchi & Saatchi’s collection of the world’s top 100 emerging photographers and went on to win
Advertising Photographer of the Year at the International Aperture Awards. With success in advertising and a growing list of collectorsDean decided to dedicate more of his time to the world of art. In the following years, his series ‘Fabricate’ received worldwide
recognition from top photography competitions, including: the International Colour Awards, the Lucie Awards, the Loupe Awards, and
in 2009, Dean was the winner of the IV International Arte Laguna Prize, Venice, Italy. This final award being the most prestigious for
emerging artists with over 5,000 applicants gunning for the top prize in photography, sculpture and painting. Zoom Magazine quickly
nominated Dean in the ‘New Talent’ issue of 2010 and the Magenta Foundation awarded Dean an emerging Photographer of Canada.
Dean’s body of work is now being collected by a growing number of sophisticated art collectors in Australia, USA, Italy,
The Netherlands and Canada.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First published in the United States of America in 2013
Nathan Sawaya
Dean West
[email protected]
www.brickartist.com
[email protected]
www.deanwest.com
Printed of FSC - certified paper made of 30% post-consumer waste
Photographs © Nathan Sawaya & Dean West
Sculptures © Nathan Sawaya & Dean West
All rights reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover “Umbrella”, In Pieces 2012
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IN PIECES
www.InPiecesCollection.com