By Lukas Mack. Artist & Curator.
There’s always a lot of emotion and stress leading to the opening of an art exhibition. Every show has its own challenges of course but a LEGO art exhibition? What does that even entail? There’s a whole lot of planning, organizing and paperwork as one would expect but convincing an art gallery is its own hurdle. Then you have to actually make the darn art! Eventually, and always too soon, you spend a day or two installing all the wonderful things. It’s only then that the nerves really creep in as you realise the big day draws ever closer. The worst thought – will anyone even turn up?!
To my great relief, ArtyBricks: Home-Built opened on the 18th of January to an absolutely amazing crowd. The support from PerthLUG folk was astounding. A massive thank you from myself and the whole team – it really meant the world to us.
So, what is ArtyBricks? Put simply, it’s a Lego exhibition made specifically for the art gallery. That means planning and designing a Lego exhibit that is appropriate for a Lego hobbyist audience, an artsy audience and the general public. Not an easy task but a challenge our team took to with intention, enthusiasm and a lot of hard work.
But why an art gallery? There are other Lego events in Perth like B Shed Builds and Bricktober and these are glorious events. Most of our artist-builders have exhibited in either or both. The art gallery is a different space with its own special context, however. In practical terms this means white walls, professional lighting and access to an entirely different audience. In less tangible ways, it’s a space of creative and cultural significance. A space that tends to be quite exclusive and often the determiner in many minds as to what is and isn’t ‘art’. Marcel Duchamp threw a urinal in a gallery, gave it a title and there you have it – one readymade unit of ‘art’!
As one of these so-called ‘artists’ myself AND a proud member of our fabulous Lego community, the conceptual creativity and technical prowess of so many MOC builders has continued to impress me year after year. To my dismay and disappointment however, what I could clearly see as ‘art’ made by ‘artists’ was too often dismissed or disparaged. That’s when it dawned on me that if we provided the proper context in the form of an art gallery to show this work then surely there could be no doubt.
So began a four-month process from concept to opening. With the wonderful financial support of PerthLUG and that too of Kent Street Gallery/ Vic Park Arts Centre our team made it happen. I won’t bore you with the details but it ain’t as easy as simply ringing up a venue and booking a space. Our application was in competition with many others and it’s with great appreciation we thank Kent St. for seeing our vision and agreeing to host us.
What was ‘the vision’? As curator, I set our artist-builders the task of incorporating objects from around the home into Lego works of art. This was a prompt deliberately intended to meld an artistic process of using found objects and assemblage with the technical Lego approaches unique to Lego. And wow did our nine builders ever run with the idea! In this way we could appeal to both Lego and artsy audiences while the element of surprise has been a hit with young-uns especially. Have you seen Doug Donnelly’s cracked egg?!
ArtyBricks: Home-Built is open now and you can see it absolutely free until Feb 4th! Several artists will also be giving a casual artist’s talk on Saturday, Feb 1st at 1pm where you can hear more about the intentions, ideas and techniques behind the pieces on display.
Where:
Kent Street Gallery (Victoria Park Centre for the Arts);
12 Kent St, East Victoria Park WA 6101
Opening Hours:
Mondays: 10am-2.30pm
Tuesday to Friday: 10am-4pm
Weekends: 10am-3pm
(Closed 26th & 27th January 2025)
Artist Talk: 1pm Saturday 1st February
Another huge thanks to PerthLUG, Kent St. Gallery/Vic Park Arts Centre and every one of you who came out to support this brand new endeavor! Finally, let me thank and acknowledge my fellow artist-builders. Their work is wondrous and they have done their community proud! Thanks to: Dylan Green (my trusty lieutenant!), Doug Paice, Kim Brackman, Katja Lee, Lande Jack, Doug Donnelly, Kayleigh Lange & Tyron Benfell.
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