Aaron Liepman

Aaron Liepman was formally trained as a molecular, cellular and developmental biologist at the University of Michigan, and he also has an artist inside. Aaron creates large mosaic artworks using thousands of hand-painted LEGO® bricks. Shortly after starting to create in this medium, Aaron discovered that the standard brick colors available were

insufficient to entertain his artistic ambitions and that more colors were needed to
render his subjects with the desired level of detail and nuance. By hand painting
LEGO® bricks using custom formulations of professional grade acrylic paints, Aaron
has a limitless palette of colors with which to work. One might think of it as painting,
using a LEGO® canvas.

Aaron is fascinated that it is possible to create artwork presenting a rich illusion
of texture, depth and dimensionality, using only geometric LEGO® pieces arrayed in
two dimensions. It is incredible how our brains can be fooled into seeing smooth curves, gradients and contours even though the artwork contains only rectangular bricks.

Similarly intriguing is how different details emerge when viewing these artworks from
different distances and vantages. From a certain distance some of Aaron’s mosaics
have even been mistaken for photographs.

Aaron enjoys exhibiting his artwork for people of all ages. The wide variety of his
subjects (including wildlife to portraits) and color spectra (rendering in grayscale to
intensely colorful) appeal to diverse audiences. Aaron is exhilarated by the sense of
connection that comes from the shared experience of interacting with these artworks.