LEGO creation is full of different approaches. It is in this diversity of culture, point of view, and inspiration that M'Brick has literally covered the city of Dijon, France, with a unique artistic imprint. You can discover his creations tinged with humor and puns as you stroll through the streets of the city.

This creator makes pixel art in the streets but also LEGO paintings inspired by other artists as well as pop culture. Although his identity remains a secret, I was able to contact the mysterious M’Brick to chat about his work.

Sam: Hello! While walking in the streets of Dijon, France, I came across some fascinating LEGO creations made by a mysterious street artist. They were signed M'brick, but who are you?

M’Brick: I am a street artist who expresses himself mainly through games. And more particularly, through a game that rocked my childhood, and also several generations. I think that each people on the planet, had in his hands some LEGO bricks. My art is therefore to play with words, names, street names for example, which I interpet into realizations made of bricks and LEGO parts exclusively.

Sam: What is your approach to LEGO creation? Do you have other street art creations outside LEGO?

M’Brick: I've always loved street art, but I had never tried it before sticking my first LEGO creation. Since then I'm very attracted by paper collage, but there are already very good street artists on it, and I'm fine with my LEGO creations.

My approach is quite simple: taking the codes I like: street art and word games. I walked a lot, and I wanted to paste in my city, in its streets, playing with the names of street signs, or specific spots. I’m always with my phone in hand, I take pictures, I start drawing on them, and I take notes. And when I come back, I draw to scale and that's when I pixelize it with LEGO.

Sam: Since when did you start with these street creations—when did you get this idea?

M’Brick: For almost a year now I've been brightening up my city, giving it bright colors with humorous collages made of LEGO bricks.

I chose to put the emphasis on some monuments or street names to make the people of Dijon smile, to take advantage of it to create a family walk of a new style, with the nose in the air, to rediscover our heritage, and to emphasize our city center.

The pandemic will have had the effect of closing the museums temporarily, so my approach was also in line with the idea of offering free cultural access near the inhabitants of downtown Dijon.

Sam: Today your approach is based on two main areas: the street art and the realization of paintings. Are they both complementary—what do you like in this alternation?

M’Brick: Indeed, I also make paintings, and this funny adventure started the day I wanted to make a painting. I wanted something particular, different from what I was seeing, a support that was not ordinary with consistency, a graphic rendering where the distance would reveal the subject: I think I took more time to find out with which material and how to make the painting, rather than to assemble it.

After several tests of materials and finishes, I came to want to "pixelize" the desired image. That's when I projected myself with a realization in LEGO, these bricks would be a dense support, which would allow me to concretize what I had in mind.

I also make the paintings because I like to work with large pieces. The collages remain in a format that is close to A4. The paintings by which I am attracted in the exposures and galleries are often the big realizations. The paintings allow me to realize things that are important to me in large format.

Now I also work on relief paintings with all types of parts. I like when close to the painting you don't see much, just a pile of parts of all sizes and shapes. And the more you move back, the more the painting takes shape and the image appears little by little.

Sam: You recently made a Jordan 1 painting. Where did you get the idea?

M’Brick: I love the Sneakers universe, so I just wanted to make some paintings of it. I have a lot of books on sneakers, I started to make a first selection, which I refined. I had to make a choice. I started with the Jordan 1 Chicago X Off White, but others will follow.

Sam: How do you work on your paintings? Do you work intuitively or do you use templates?

M’Brick: I have two approaches for the paintings:

1) I mount a wall, so the side of the LEGO will give the color and design of the painting. It will give it a smooth look. I make them from a photo or a drawing. Once the assembly is finished, I glue (sorry for the purists :-)) the wall on a wooden plate in order to hang it.

2) The other approach and that of the front, I pass by photoshop to pixelize images and drawings that I realize. And retouch the colors in order to get as close as possible to the LEGO colors, and if the drawing suits me I realize it. I use all the pieces that I can find to give relief to my creations that I glue (sorry again for the purists :-)) on one or more plates.

Sam: Where can we see your street art?

M’Brick: Come to Dijon! By walking the streets, you will discover the different collages. There is the Application ST'ART specialized in street art which has just realized a route of my collages in order to help to find them.

Otherwise you can follow or see the evolution of collages and paintings by following me on Instagram and Facebook: @mbrick_art. And I also hope soon to be able to collage in other cities. Maybe in yours, who knows?!?

Sam: Which artists inspire you?

M’Brick: I'm interested in a lot of universes, from street art to music, decoration, sneakers ...

As I always work with music it's the first thing that influences me. I also always have some in my ears when I walk in the city to find my next collage. I listen to classic rap or hip hop from France such as NTM, IAM, Medine, Diam's, Orelsan but also a lot of American rap, Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Run DMC, Drake, Eminem , Rilès…

I'm also very interested in fashion styles and object design. Of course the world of sneakers fascinates me. I love to discover the latest creations, and the different collaborations between artists and brands.

For the street art part or even art, the most known are Basquiat, Banksy, Invaders, Ernest Pignon-Ernest, JonOne, JR, Shepard Fairey, Vhils and many others. The artist who touched me the most is certainly Basquiat. I remained blocked in front of the works, as it happened to me at the time of the visit of the exhibition of Basquiat to the Luis Vuitton Institute. Closer to my home you have the artist RNST who realizes superb stencils or gigantic mural frescos.

Sam: What are your current running projects?

M’Brick: At the moment it's the 100 years of the Pompon bear. There is one in the Darcy Garden in Dijon, and one in the Orsay Museum in Paris. To celebrate this event, I made 100 bears glued on glass identical to the two collages made at the Jardin Darcy and the Pompon Museum in Saulieu, birthplace of Francois Pompon.

Following an exhibition and different exchange with the talented street pop artist, NIKI. We decided to collaborate on some unique pieces where she comes to sublimate the bear in LEGO.

Sam: Do you have a new wonder to show, exclusivity for BrickNerd readers?

M’Brick: My latest painting is about Wonder Woman.

Sam: Thank you M'Brick !

Do you want to decorate your city with LEGO bricks? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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