Local NJ Dad Takes Lego to the Next Level

I recently wrote a post about The Morris Museum and the new, very cool, Lego exhibit on display there. I then learned that the Lego art, was all at the hands of local Ramsey dad, Mike Doyle. No joke, my five year old boys want to knock on his door and ask to be adopted. Their dad can follow the instructions on the box, but the creations of Mike are truly incredible.

I asked Mike about what inspired him to tackle these massive Lego building projects.

Mike Doyle: About 5 years ago, the family visited Legoland, CA – a Lego based theme park – and it was there that peaked my interest while ‘tinkering’ with Lego. It suddenly occurred to me that this simple plastic toy could be used to create interesting works of art. After we got back to our hotel room, I looked online to see if others were working with Lego in an artful or interesting manner. Boy, was I shocked to see what was going on around the world. Thousands of people online sharing the most incredible things out of Lego. It was then, I knew this was something I wanted to be involved in.

Lots of people visit Legoland, but most of them aren’t motivated to make these:

ODAN — This took about 600 hours and over 200,000 pieces!

VICTORIAN MUD HEAP — 600 hours and 130,000 pieces — isn’t this amazing?

SICKENING SWEET Looks good enough to eat!! This took about 80 hours and 10,000 pieces.

For obvious reasons, Mike Doyle is known for his stunningly realistic, grand-scale designs. His award-winning Abandoned House series has been showcased at Gallery1988 in LA and now has a home in Boston’s Museum of Realist Art. You can see more of Mike’s fun and incredible work in his book Beautiful Lego. When he isn’t making waves as internationally acclaimed Lego artist or publishing books, Doyle is a graphic designer.  He lives with his wife and two children (who know doubt have a lot to live up to in the building blocks department) in Ramsey, New Jersey.