M'Brick transforms LEGO® bricks into works of art

From a metre away, all you can see is a jumble of coloured bricks. Take three steps back, however, and a face emerges. This is the signature style of M’Brick, a former elite athlete who became a LEGO® brick artist almost by accident. His artworks, which include exceptional watches, cult trainers and icons of the twentieth century, sell with a waiting list of nearly a year and travel from Copenhagen to Dubai. We meet a self-taught artist who refuses to take himself too seriously. “I’m having a brilliant time, and it doesn’t feel like work.”

A Marilyn that was meant to be nothing more than a gift

M’Brick

Nothing suggested that Aymeric was destined for painting, let alone LEGO® bricks. A top-level athlete for twenty years, one day he was looking for a gift for the mother of his children, who was a fan of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe. The original was out of reach and a simple poster seemed too lacklustre. A man of many talents, he came across a pixelated reproduction and had an idea: what if he brought that face to life with LEGO® bricks? He ordered five hundred bricks, but he would need far more. Once finished, Marilyn took her place in the family living room, where she remained for years. This intimate gift, given out of love, had just given rise to a second life, which no one suspected. ‘It was that first Marilyn that planted the seed which has since sprouted, so that today I find myself right here,’ smiles the artist.

From sport to LEGO® bricks

M’Brick

The end of his sporting career left Aymerick feeling out of step with office life. A fan of street art, he dreamt of leaving his mark on the walls of his city, but he didn’t dare take the plunge. He talked about it so much to his partner that she finally snapped: ‘Either you stop talking to me about it, or you just do it.’ So, at night, he started sticking little brick figures onto the streets of Dijon and posting his creations on an anonymous Instagram account. Recognition came quickly, and commissions followed. On the day he finally revealed his identity, he realised he was onto something, so he gave up everything to devote himself to LEGO® bricks. A former journalist wrote an article about him, his first buyers flocked to him, and the momentum never let up.

Millions of bricks, three ways of interpreting a work

M’Brick

Stepping through the door of M’Brick’s workshop is like entering a warehouse of colours: hundreds of crates and millions of pieces, all sorted by size and arranged in a kind of controlled chaos. The process begins with an image, which is reworked on a computer before being pixelated and recoloured to match the Danish manufacturer’s exact colour chart. Next comes assembly, brick by brick, until a dense relief is formed. This is where his signature style lies: three ways of interpreting the same work. From a metre away, the eye sees only a tangle. You have to take a few steps back for the subject to emerge, and the image suddenly reveals itself through a mobile phone screen. One delightful detail is that the artist has built his new life around the LEGO® brick, using it like a painter to create his artworks.

The secrets hidden within the LEGO® brick

M’Brick

What remains unchanged from one piece of artwork to the next? Only LEGO® bricks, with no trickery involved.

M’Brick embraces this limitation wholeheartedly, much like a pastry chef who would serve just one perfect cake. Where a signature would usually be found, a small figure holds a brick suspended in mid-air, hinting at the wall behind him. This little figure is never insignificant; it alludes either to the subject of the painting or to the person who commissioned it. The most private works conceal intimate dedications, such as the date of a marriage proposal or a private joke. Each painting thus retains an element of secrecy, reserved for those who truly know how to look.

From the green Rolex to the shop windows of Dubai

M’Brick

One day, while looking for a subject to explore the colour green, Aymeric came across a Rolex with an emerald-coloured dial. He found the idea amusing and created the design, which opened up a whole new world for him. Watch commissions began to pour in. He worked for Tudor and then for the prestigious watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen, which was opening its boutique in Copenhagen, home of the LEGO® brand. His monumental watch took pride of place in a shop window for a year before moving to the Dubai Mall and then to the United States. His work has also appeared on screens around the world, including a Nelson Mandela piece in South Africa and a Frida design in Germany and Italy for International Women’s Day. The young man from Dijon never expected any of these adventures.

The luxury of rarity

M’Brick

For the time being, M’Brick has chosen to sell his work directly. This decision is driven by his roles as both a collector and a creator: he values rarity and the few pieces that people look forward to and treasure.

‘What really appeals to me is rarity,’ he says. Perhaps one day I’ll come across a gallery that capitalises on this and is capable of announcing once or twice a year: ‘We’ve managed to get hold of two pieces’, turning it into a real event.” ”

His very first sale went for less than the cost of postage; since then, the value has risen sharply. Aymeric has realised that becoming an artist means taking on several roles at once: Salesman, gallery owner, entrepreneur: he brings the energy of a competitor to it all, a direct legacy of his previous life.

What remains, once the artwork is hung back up

M’Brick

Fame holds no interest for M’Brick; being recognised in the street has never been his aim. M’Brick’s true passion is revealed during his rare exhibitions, where he observes parents standing transfixed in front of the paintings while their children play outside. Some visitors even return to give him the old box of LEGO® bricks they’ve found in their attic.

On his website, limited editions of thirty signed pieces sit alongside reproductions of all sizes. A fan of Banksy and Daft Punk, M’Brick moves from door to door. And what about that very first Marilyn? It’s still hanging in his home.