IT’S LEGO® but not as you know it. A remarkable touring exhibition of artworks based on the humble plastic brick that has been a staple of family fun play for generations, opens in Hull later this month.

The free-to-view exhibition at Ferens Art Gallery, from May 28 to September 11, brings together work by international artists, designers and photographers who use LEGO® bricks as their medium or inspiration.

But Brick by Brick isn’t just made of them. There’s a wide range of 2D and 3D work in a variety of media from jewellery to sculpture, and glasswork to street art.

Using the simple plastic construction block as their starting point, each artist has created striking, thought-provoking and often humorous artworks.

The lead image, Leave Me Alone, Don’t Leave Me Alone, is by artist and designer David Hughes, who says: “I like to think my art engages with people because it appeals to all of us who played with LEGO® bricks as children, whilst at the same time explores grown-up ideas of contemporary art and design.”

David is exhibiting five plinth mounted sculptures and one wall mounted installation comprising six skulls in the show, which is a 20-21 Visual Arts Centre Touring Exhibition.

Here’s a cinema staple given a new look by Little Big Art aka Cardiff artist and designer Andy Morris, who creates life-sized LEGO® inspired artworks. He has exhibited his work internationally, including at the world famous Saatchi Gallery in London.

David Turner, based in Belfast, is exhibiting a LEGO® firearms installation which consists of 19 replica guns, a work which makes reference to his childhood spent in Northern Ireland during ‘The Troubles’.

Eat My Bricks, a collaboration between German artists Michael Feindura and Soren Grochau, uses LEGO® minifigures to create large-scale, humorous photographs, often with social and political commentary at their heart.

This spooky Psycho House, recalling the chilling Hitchcock movie, is the work of The Little Artists –John Cake and Darren Neave – who have exhibited internationally and have work in both public and private collections, including The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

Born in the US but living in Berkshire, Janet Curley Cannon’s work can be found in public and private collections worldwide. Not on the High Street Anymore is an installation in response to the demise of the UK’s high street.

Now here’s a famous first. Several of them, in fact. James Paterson, a fine art graduate whose instantly recognisable work can be found in collections internationally, is exhibiting 16 small canvases, all depicting a LEGO® first such as the first LEGO® baby.

Taking the iconic shape of the LEGO® minifigure, British artist Hannah Gibson is showing four gorgeous cast glass figures entitled Whispering Sweet Nothings.

And, of course, we all love LEGO®. Not least street and graffiti artist James Ame, who goes by the street name AME 72, and who is exhibiting two large- scale canvases created especially for the exhibition, alongside six prints and an installation of his Pop Cubes.

There’s much, much more to see. Read about the Brick By Brick exhibition, and see more amazing LEGO art, at the 20-21 Visual Arts Centre website. For upcoming exhibitions at the Ferens Art Gallery, head to hcandl.co.uk.

* LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorise, endorse or otherwise support this exhibition or related events.