This year has seen a collection of ever expanding opportunities for adults to get engaged with LEGO: Be it super cars, trains, fairground attractions, football grounds, Disney characters, there has been something for everyone. the styles and building techniques have all been quite different and challenging.
And today, LEGO Announces its latest releases for adults: LEGO Art. This series of mosaics, put together over a series of interlinking bases covers a variety of material – both traditional LEGO licences, as well as a new one.
These sets are priced at $199.99 AUD/NZD -US $119.99 –CA $149.99 –DE €119.99 –UK £114.99 – FR €119.99 – DK 1099DKK. There are four different ‘sets’ available, and each allows you to make one of several different images. Each set comes with an associated ‘Playlist/Soundtrack’ for you to listen to while you complete the build. Each mosaic measures 40cm (48 studs) square.
The LEGO® Art Series
LEGO® Art’s Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe 31197 has 3332 pieces.
Pop art admirers can now recreate Andy Warhol’s famous bright pink screenprint of Marilyn Monroe from 1967, or reimagine it in three different colours using LEGO tiles. As art and design lovers tailor the tone of their piece to suit their artistic temperament, they can tune in to new insights and details about Warhol from those that know him best: The accompanying soundtrack includes interviews with Jessica Beck, Curator at The Andy Warhol Museum and stories from Blake Gopnik, Art Critic and the author of “Warhol”, a comprehensive biography.
LEGO® Art’s The Beatles (31198) has 2933 pieces.
Music lovers can bring Beatle-fandom into the home with a LEGO portrait of their favorite band member, whether it’s John Lennon, Sir Paul McCartney, George Harrison or Sir Ringo Starr. Each set can be used to create four unique portraits or collect four and display the full band side-by-side. Fans can get by with a little help from friends of the Beatles as they switch their headphones over to accompanying soundtrack to listen to music and stories about the band as they build: the accompanying soundtrack includes interviews with Broadcaster and Beatles Expert, Geoff Lloyd, British journalist and Beatles fan Samira Ahmed and stories from Nish Kumar, Comedian, TV Presenter and Beatles fan.
One of the established licenses we see represented is in 31199 LEGO Art Marvel Studios Iron Man:
Super Hero fans can decide between powering their hero up with the MARK III, the HULKBUSTER MARK I or the MARK LXXXV with this 3-in-1 set. After the tough decision is made, builderscan recharge by listening to cool details about the set and stories from Marvel Experts as part of the accompanying soundtrack, which includes interviews with Roy Thomas, former Marvel Editor in Chief and stories from Alex Grand, Marvel expert and host of “Comic Book Historians podcast”. Fans who want to channel Tony Stark and ‘run before you walk’ can combine three of the same sets into one to create theultimate Iron Man artwork.
LEGO® Art’s Star Wars™ The Sith™(31200) has 3395 elements.
Celebrate iconic villains from a galaxy far, far away with this 3-in-1 portrait set. Choose between portraits that pay tribute to the Sith, with Darth Vader™, Darth Maul™ or Kylo Ren™, or take the artwork to the next level by combining three sets into an ultimate Darth Vader™ wall piece. The soundtrack means the Force will be with fans as they create their very own piece of wall art while listing to music from the films and fun stories from Star Wars™creators, including Doug Chiang, VP & Executive Creative Director, Lucasfilm and stories from Glyn Dillon, creator of the design for Kylo Ren™, as seen in the Star Wars film saga.
What’s new?
The mosaics consist of 9 ‘canvas wall decor plates: 16x16x1 plates that can be joined together by technic pins. From what we can see in the images, the instructions seem to focus on one of these plates at a time, and then ties them together with a brick build frame. As well as these new plates, the sets appear to come with a new brick separator, designed for removing large numbers of tiles or plates at a given time.
Looking closely at the images of the Art Pieces, the Beatles and Marilyn portrays consist primarily of 1×1 round tiles, while the Star Wars and Marvel images use 1×1 round plates for construction.
The new brick separator is designed to remove 4 studs/tiles at a time, and may well be a useful addition to the armamentarium of any MOC Builder.
Today, the LEGO Group is launching a new canvas for creative expression alongside a series of much-loved partners. Designed for adults who pride themselves on their love of pop culture, four new LEGO® Art sets give creative adults a different way to transform their passion into art.
Those who love Warhol or Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles or iconic characters from the Marvel Universe and Star Wars™galaxy can pay homage to their idols by creating their very own LEGO artwork portrait to proudly display in their homes, offices or wherever they enjoy their music, film or art.
The LEGO® Art sets offer adults a new creative experience to help them relax and recharge as they transform a blank canvas (or in this case, small interlinking base plates) using LEGO tiles. Each set can be reimagined in a number of different ways to express the personality of each different builder, and to make it easy and simple for pop culture lovers to refresh the LEGO Art piece on display in their house. All four new sets come with a signature tile unique to the set that is worthy of any true work of art, and a new hanging element to make them easy to hang up and switch around.
With new research from the LEGO Group finding that 73% of adults often research new ways to help them relax[1], each LEGO Art set comes with a bespoke soundtrack that makes the perfect building companion. Featuring fascinating anecdotes from the creators of Iron Man and Star Wars, or those closest to the stories of Andy Warhol and the Beatles, the soundtracks dive deep into the inspiration behind each design to help adults fully immerse themselves in the building experience and unwind while they explore their love of music, art or film in a new way.
Louise Elizabeth Bontoft, Senior Design Director at the LEGO Group, commented: “We know adults are always trying to destress after a day at work, and we thought, what better way to help them switch off than by encouraging them to explore their favourite passion in a new creative way?
With these wider ranging designs, we believe that we can inspire film fans, music lovers and art and design aficionados to immerse themselves in a world of art and creativity linked to their idols. Through this new experience, we believe adults can unwind, engage in a mindful building activity and ultimately create a beautiful piece of wall art that perfectly reflects their personality.”
These new wall art sets are the second 2D tile creative concept to be announced by the LEGO Group this year, following the launch of LEGO® DOTS, a new theme that offers children a new way to express themselves inspired by arts and crafts.
The LEGO® Marvel Studios Iron Man set will be available exclusively from LEGO Retail Stores and LEGO.com in most countries while the other three sets will be available from retailers from 1stAugust 2020, or from 1stSeptember in the US.
[1]Research conducted in 2020 by the LEGO Group among 18,435 adults globally.
At almost $200 each, these sets aren’t cheap. They are prices, however, on a par with the Custom Mosaic Makers that are seen in flagship LEGO Stores around the world, where a Photo Booth picture is converted into a LEGO mosaic, and elements dispensed to make it possible. Of course, if you wish to build the complete set of images possible, you might feel the need to buy multiples. I would like to imagine that these are sets that remain on the market for a prolonged period of time, to allow gradual purchasing every six to twelve months, as you build up the series.
I don’t think these sets are for everybody, but I can imagine quite a few people might look to these as a starter pack for elements for their own mosaic projects.
The sets go on sale August 1, 2020-(September 1 USA). They will have general availability in LEGO Branded Stores, as well as specialty retailers, except for 31199 (Iron Man) which is a LEGO Branded Retail exclusive for several months.
What to you think of the LEGO® Art Series? Does it appeal to you? Do you know someone who is not an AFOL who might love them? I’d love to know what you think: leave your comments below, and until next time,
Play Well!
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