Artist travels world fixing crumbling monuments with Lego

Published: 9:48AM GMT 11 Mar 2010

Jan Vormann, 26, has taken his project from its humble beginnings at an art fair in Rome and brightened up thousands of people’s days with his brightly coloured plastic version of Polyfilla.

From the old quarter of Tel Aviv in Israel to the grand Bryant Park of New York, Mr Vormann has acted either independently or with the city’s permission to leave a tiny part of his childhood behind.

Estimating to have used upwards of 1,000 of the tiny Danish building blocks, Mr Vormann enlists the help of passers-by intrigued by his careful placing of the Lego bricks.

“I like to think of my work as a Repair Manifesto,” stated the Berlin-based installation artist.

“My work draws attention to the smallest parts of our cities that are falling apart because of the brightness of the Lego.

“It draws people’s attention through the coloured blocks and makes them aware that this wall or statue or construction is not complete anymore, for whatever reason.

“In the case of my latest project in New York which I finished in early March, I simply wanted to help the Mayor Bloomberg brighten up the great city.”

Beginning his work at an arts festival just outside Rome in 2007, Mr Vormann is most proud of his international travel that has taken him to Ecuador and to Serbia.

Mr Vormann said: “My favourite work was done in Berlin.

“I filled in the holes still left by guns and shrapnel from the Second World War.

“That drew peoples attention to the Lego and hopefully they would ask themselves why the Lego was there.”

source : www.telegraph.co.uk