Fleeting plastic "sculptures" for a modern Peter Pan

Whoever was a child in the 70's, 80's and 90's has surely held in his hand at least once a piece of colored plastic that would fit together with other similar ones, a LEGO brick. There were children then, like me, who totally fell in love with those bricks, and spent hours building castles, ships, stadiums, populating their adventures with the ever-smiling yellow-faced little men. There are also adults, as I am, who have at some point in their lives rediscovered this passion, abandoned at the time for pressing adolescent needs. These adults, who call themselves AFOL (Adult Fan Of LEGO) now have the means and possibilities they did not have when they were children and live in a time where technology offers accessibility and visibility that can really turn this childhood passion into an artistic expression. So do not think of the classic toy car or house that children build following instructions step by step, but of real works of fantasy, unique, of any kind, size and meaning.

Even the famous Danish company, which bankrupted in the 2000s, is now living a second moment of glory and is itself grateful and attentive to the market sector represented by these fans who use the product to create their works and express their creativity through the bricks. To realize how important this attention is, it is enough to think of the fact that inside the LEGO House, the museum that LEGO itself has recently built at its historical headquarters in Billund, there is a space dedicated to the most interesting constructions made by adult enthusiasts, artists, from all over the world. This constantly changing exhibit perfectly embodies the initial spirit of LEGO bricks and the nature of the works themselves, destined to enchant for a short time, before being once again reduced to the initial "crumbs", that is, a collection of simple bricks, which will be promptly reused for a new creation.

The spirit with which they give life to their own construction, in the jargon of fans: MOC (My Own Creation), is to express the inspiration of the moment, knowing that no matter how beautiful and satisfying the end result will be, the pieces used for this work will be used to make a new one because it is certain that no matter how many pieces you may have, there is always one missing. So, these constructions, artworks, expressions, are intended to last the time of an exhibition event (two days generally) or even just the time of a photograph, which remains the only witness of the artistic ability, to be disclosed on social networks, specialized sites, contests. To those who may find tragic or illogical destroying the work of weeks or months shortly after reaching its conclusion, an exceptional aspect of this means of expression comes to the rescue: the creations never break, they can be very fragile and fall to the ground, but they will never be broken, only disassembled, and can always be reconstructed.

But how can these toys, plastic cubes, be for those who use them the analogue of clay, wood or tempera? Here we need to go back to the expansion of the LEGO company itself and its modernization in order to remain appealing to the eyes of modern children. If, in fact, in the '80s the pieces were few, almost all rectangular, and only yellow, red, green, and blue (look for the origin of the colors of the Google sign in this regard), today the number of pieces is practically infinite, all kinds of shapes are added to the classic rectangular bricks, and the colors available exceed a hundred. So where is the skill in using them?

Obviously not every brick exists in every color LEGO produces, and vice versa, it is as if we had a bunch of brush strokes already made and could only arrange them on the canvas to form the painting. A particular brick can even exist in only one color, and if you ask the experts, they will tell you that color is useless. We must therefore use what LEGO makes available in terms of shapes and colors, treasuring few "rules" that all fans respect as truly sacred dictates: it is not allowed to recolor the pieces, it is not allowed to cut or change the shape, and it is absolutely forbidden, really forbidden, to glue them. Let us remember that the pieces in question are born to be set one on top of the other, simply, to build toy models. Consequently, the skill is being able to combine the pieces in a stable way, managing to obtain strange shapes, unconventional, realistic, that elevate the bricks outside of their nature.

Precisely these limits of shape and color are a turbocharger for the imagination of the builders, who strive to get around them, always discovering new uses for the pieces available. There are infinite construction "scales", the same object can be reproduced one centimeter or one meter high, depending on the illustrative purpose, and the same brick can be at the same time a flower petal, the wing of a spaceship or a surfboard.

There are thousands of construction styles, but what strikes me most is when you manage to make the viewer exclaim that

"it can't be done with LEGO"

This search for "unconventional" use of individual pieces, new ways to fit them, or even the use of pieces simply placed and not connected to the others, makes the realization of the works particularly challenging and fascinating, and the purpose is always that of any art form: to amaze, fascinate, make people think. So, what are you waiting for? Start playing!

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