Pretoria - Artist Michelle Kruger has an impressive collection of work, including Lego brick portraits of world icons such as Marilyn Monroe.
Kruger said she had always been artistically inclined, and after high school she applied to the Tshwane University of Technology, where she studied Performing Arts Technology.
“After graduating I could not find work in the industry and landed in a receptionist position at an architecture firm. I studied towards my certification as an architectural drafter, and from there moved on to civil engineering drafting.
“I also studied towards a diploma in civil engineering.”
But she had been continuously pursuing her art and was painting and had works exhibited in various venues, including Ink Box Gallery in Kalk Bay and The Gallery Lifestyle in Ballito.
Last November, she experimented with Lego as a new artistic material. Her Lego portraits were thus born.
Kruger, the youngest of five siblings, said she drew inspiration from existing artworks by artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Andy Warhol, Vladimir Tretchikoff and Frida Kahlo.
“I also enjoy drawing inspiration from high fashion photography and portraiture.
“An average-size portrait takes me around 30 hours to complete, and larger pieces can even take up to 60 hours,” Kruger said.
The work behind the scenes, of putting together a portrait, was very technical, and required that Kruger manipulate the images.
“I get the image together first, designing it in Photoshop and in Adobe Illustrator.
“I then manipulate the colours to be in accordance with the Lego bricks available, and then transform the image into a rasterised mosaic that serves as a blueprint for me to work from.”
Just like any other art project there will be challenges, and Kruger said: “Challenges that I have faced include procuring the correct colour of bricks.
“It can be quite difficult and I need to use a lot of different sources in order to get what I need. I buy the Classic Lego sets which usually include primary and secondary colours, and sometimes a few tertiaries.
“I also use the pick-a-brick at the Lego store. I have also ordered bricks directly from the factory in Denmark.”
Kruger said another challenge was creating works that were very detailed.
“Detail cannot be captured well in this format of art; so I need to be creative in creating the illusion.”
Despite doing Lego art for about nine months, Kruger has been an established artist for about three years.
Asked if there was any other artist using Lego bricks to create art, Kruger noted that she was not aware of any other artist in South Africa currently using the same medium and style.
She advised aspiring Lego artists to find their passion and what inspired them.
“Keep your childhood imagination, and just have fun,” she said.
Kruger said all of her artwork can be seen on her Instagram profile @michelle_kruger_art or The Ink Box Gallery and at The Gallery Lifestyle.
Pretoria News