Jared Oswald
Jared Oswald is a self-taught artist whose practice centers entirely on LEGO as both material and language. Without formal training in art, he developed his skills through sustained making, collaboration, and study. He reads extensively, often listening to audiobooks while working, and seeks out conversations with other creatives, including artists and designers who work exclusively with LEGO. Regular critique from peers and colleagues remains an important part of his process, helping him refine both concept and execution.
Oswald is drawn to LEGO for its constraints. The medium imposes limits through rarity, geometry, stability, and color availability, challenges he treats as generative rather than restrictive. Certain forms require careful mathematical testing, while sourcing specific pieces can be difficult or impossible. These limitations push him toward inventive problem-solving and encourage unconventional uses of familiar parts. Elements designed as chopsticks become jagged rock formations, animal claws and horns form architectural facades, and epaulettes transform into foliage. Repurposing pieces in this way is central to his satisfaction as a maker.
His work frequently operates within tightly controlled color palettes. By limiting color, Oswald directs attention, clarifies dense detail, and establishes mood. This approach also adds another layer of constraint, requiring him to resolve form and structure with fewer visual variables. Many of his pieces are highly detailed, and color restraint allows those details to remain legible and intentional.
Conceptually, Oswald explores humanity through architecture. He treats built environments as reflections of culture, belief systems, climate, material limits, and collective values. His cities often take on surreal, fantastical, or futuristic forms to heighten specific ideas rather than replicate reality. Paired works are a recurring strategy. Pieces such as Spill Life and Pareidolia imagine cities that exist only briefly, one formed from an ink spill, the other from clouds. Autumnspire and Foundation examine opposing relationship dynamics, contrasting mutualism and parasitism through how cities interact with their natural surroundings.
Oswald’s aim is not only narrative, but advocacy for the medium itself. Each work is designed to demonstrate LEGO’s capacity for storytelling, emotional resonance, and formal complexity. He sees the material as an underrecognized artistic tool, capable of carrying meaning far beyond play.
His definition of success has evolved. Where pressure once limited productivity, he now measures success through growth and sustained output. Not every piece must be perfect, but each must contain something worth pursuing. This shift has allowed him to create more consistently while maintaining high standards.
Alongside his personal practice, Oswald works with LEGO full time. He runs operations for a company that produces custom building kits for corporate clients and leads his own business creating high-fidelity architectural models for private commissions. This professional work satisfies his technical precision and architectural rigor, while his personal art addresses fantasy, philosophy, and broader questions about the human condition. The balance between the two provides a continuous creative circuit.
Looking ahead, Oswald hopes to exhibit his Micro City series in a physical space, emphasizing that three-dimensional work is best experienced in person. A long-term ambition includes recreating The Metropolitan Museum of Art in LEGO, a project that would bring together his interests in architecture, scale, and cultural symbolism.
