German artist, Cole Blaq (real name Aran Jitsukawa-Hudson) was born in Great Britain and grew up in Germany. He lives in Düsseldorf with his wife and three children, is a cancer survivor, and attended university as an Art History student. Like many children, building with LEGO bricks was one of the main activities of his youth. However, at the age of 12, he sold all his bricks and they remained forgotten as a creative medium until shortly after he moved to Düsseldorf to study art history at the university. The arrival of his first child, along with a life-changing diagnosis of cancer led to the end of his career as a mural painter. However, after a friend shared with him what people were doing artistically with LEGO® bricks, he embraced working in this medium, both as therapy during treatment, and as a creative outlet.
Cole Blaq is exhibiting a small selection from his vast ‘Enter the Brick’ series. These playful, humorous and quirky interpretations of the classic 2 stud by 4 stud LEGO® brick are scaled up by a factor of approximately 3:1. The pieces are a creative exploration, which originate in the basic shape of the brick. The underlying structure remains the same, providing a springboard for limitless different interpretations.
As well as producing three dimensional interpretations of the classic LEGO® brick, Cole produces photographs of his creations. This enables him to digitally manipulate the work to include ‘impossible’ elements to his compositions such as unavailable bricks and unachievable techniques.
Find out more about Cole Blaq at http://cole-blaq.com/
