There are some of us who choose to never fully move on from our old LEGO collections, but one Houston artist has taken his love for the interlocking blocks to new artistic heights with stunning works of art. The latest masterpiece painstakingly created by artist Joseph Kraham is a full-blown portrait of Jose Altuve, second baseman of the World Series champion Houston Astros and reigning American League MVP.
This isn’t just some simple LEGO tribute that was created on a whim. Kraham takes a methodical approach to crafting a one-of-kind work of art that takes hours upon hours of careful planning and meticulous attention to the smallest details, with each one or two-studded brick being hand-painted when necessary to fit the color scheme. After all, LEGO bricks may come in a wide range of colors, but even the color spectrum of LEGO has its limitations.
“It’s a really painstaking process,” Graham said in a story shared by Houston news station KHOU. “When the World Series started, I had painted all the pieces, but I only had one leg done. My wife teased me and said ‘You better hurry up.'”
Kraham, who has made similar artistic pieces comprised of LEGO bricks in the past, claims his Altuve portrait is made up of nearly 44,000 bricks. And this piece of art didn’t come with one of those instruction manuals LEGO kits typically come with. This was all done from scratch. In all, Kraham’s Altuve LEGO portrait took more than 220 hours over a span of three months to be completed.
This Altuve piece is a follow-up to another previous creation of Kraham’s. In 2016, he showed off a portrait of Houston Texans star J.J. Watt. That piece was donated to the J.J. Watt Charity Classic and signed by Watt himself. Kraham is hoping his Altuve LEGO portrait will eventually be signed by the Astros star as well and put on display in Minute Maid Park in Houston.
Hopefully, the artist didn’t step on any of those LEGOs in the process of putting this project together. Many of us know how much that hurts.
[KHOU]
