Life Sized LEGO Animals Populate Iowa Zoo

Zoos can be smelly and more often than not, the animals are hiding from all the people trying to take pictures and get close. One LEGO enthusiast decided to take their passion to new levels and create a zoo made entirely of life sized LEGO animals.

I love LEGOs, but the most I could ever really make out of them were convoluted flying contraptions and ramshackle buildings, not too mention tall colorful towers that served no other purpose than to use all the LEGOs before my brother could get his hands on them. Never did I think about building actual life size animals out of LEGOs.

Currently in Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa is Sean Kenney’s beautiful traveling exhibition known as Nature Connects. It features 27 life sized LEGO sculptures featuring a number of animals and flowers. The contemporary sculptures are made using almost 500,000 LEGOs, which are then glued together by Kenney and his assistants. The sculptures are also held up using steel frames. The LEGO sculptures take between 60 hours for the smallest and six weeks for the largest to build. Each structure is between 2,300 and 50,000 LEGOs.

According to Kenney, “Working with the medium brings new and exciting forms to sculptire, dictated by a limited palette, grids, and blocky forms. Overcoming these challenges is exciting and rewarding for both the artist and the viewer.”

If you are near Ames between now and October 28, 2012, check out the exhibition. It is sure to turn anyone into a LEGO lover.

(Via: My Modern Met)

I love LEGOs, don’t you? Here are some more great LEGO-related articles – LEGO Mindstorms NXT Submarine and Skyscrapers made out of LEGOs.