LEGO Still Life with Bricks: The Art of Everyday Play by Lydia Ortiz

 

I'm surprised at some of the critical reviews for this book. I'm pretty hard to please and I thought STILL LIFE WITH BRICKS was a lot of fun. Some of the concepts were executed a little messily, yes, but I thought the overall execution was really fun and colorful. If this was an Instagram account, I'd definitely smash that follow button in a hot minute to get some color in my feed.

I don't think this book has a preview function on Amazon, which almost made me not get it. (Because in the past, sometimes that's a bad sign.) But the photography was beautiful and the pictures were really fun. One of my favorites was the illustration on the cover, with the circular LEGO pieces as gumballs, but I also really liked the LEGO cupcakes, sushi, and Baskin Robbins-style ice cream bins.

There isn't a lot of substance to this book but it's a fun conversation piece and would be great for any coffee table. For me, it was the palate cleanser I needed between some pretty heavy reads, and looking at all the fun, whimsical pictures really cheered me up. I think this would be a great gift in particular for anyone who loves both art (esp. pop art) and LEGOs.

4.5 out of 5 stars