Vincent Sereks is one of the artists who used LEGO bricks as a raw material. For his first major solo exhibition, Vincent is presenting KALÉIDOSCOPE, a multi-prism artistic experience centered around his practices of painting, building bricks and making magical objects at the Gallery 1000M2 in Bègles, France from February 4 to April 2, 2022.

BrickNerd contacted Vincent to find out more about his exhibition and his participation in LEGO Masters France Season 2.

Sam: Hello Vincent! As a reminder for our BrickNerd readers, Ted Andes interviewed you a year ago in April 2021. You talked about your dream catchers and your possible participation in LEGO Masters Season 2 in France. What have you been up to since then?

Vincent: It’s great to be back on BrickNerd! And yes, we were selected to participate in the show with my partner Aurélien. The filming took place in Paris for a good part of June 2021 for both of us. The show was broadcast in December 2021 and January 2022.

Sam: So cool! Congratulations! How was the experience for you?

Vincent: I had a great time on the show—and we had a lot of fun with each other outside of the shoot! During the challenges it was less fun though. I was in a state of absolute concentration as soon as I had to build—the hours of work went by very quickly! But I'm glad I did it. I'll remember it for the rest of my life!

Sam: You finished in fifth place which is no easy feat. What is your proudest achievement on the show?

Vincent: I really liked the first challenge where we had to invent a surface in which we had to set a trap for an explorer who was visiting in his off-road vehicle. We built a 360° battle scene between two fantastic robotic civilizations, the Robonmen against the Demonbots who try to cut the explorer's vehicle with mechanized saws of the future!

I managed to make a pretty cool multicolored robot in this challenge that I dream of making again in my workshop when I have the parts! We put a lot of details in this scene, and managed to mix our construction styles for a common rendering that I loved.

Sam: Do you think you had the opportunity to develop your style during the show? Did you encounter any particular difficulties?

Vincent: I did my best to bring an artistic touch to our builds which sometimes caused us problems with the readability of the story, I'm afraid! Sometimes “artistic” and “easily understood” don’t go together as easily.

For difficulties, my favorite bricks were not in the show's stock of bricks, which made me grumble gently in my beard! Not being a very technical builder, I felt limited on some of the challenges too—I didn't manage to build some things correctly. I had planned a schedule to learn and relearn some construction techniques before arriving on the set since I'm a little bit bad in architecture-style builds but life decided not to give me time to catch up!

But where I came up short, Aurélien was there. Aurélien was a great partner for this adventure! We got along great, he let me try things that didn't always work, he showed me things I had never done before, and I learned a lot.

However, I came out of the show a little frustrated artistically because I was not used to creating with constraints! This frustration was a very powerful artistic engine because when I came back from filming the show, I was struck by a building madness. I have not been able to calm down since!

Sam: I’m glad you are building! Tell us more about your new exhibition dedicated to your art. What is it about?

Vincent: I am an artist in residence at the 1000m2 gallery in Bègles (near Bordeaux) since September 2021. Collectively, we are nine artists who share a space of about 800m2 of workshops, plus 200m2 of gallery space! (800 + 200 =1000m2)

I occupy a 25m2 studio which allows me to conduct extraordinary experiments, make objects from visions of the future, and carry out my secret plan of re-enchanting the world.

As soon as I arrived at the studio, I wanted to do an exhibition in the adjoining gallery. We are an "artist-run space", which means that we do everything ourselves (workshop and gallery management, curation and exhibition production).

This exhibition "Kaleidoscope" is the result of several years of work around the building brick. I show reproductions of real objects (what I call vanities), fantastic miniature worlds, lucky charms, totems and other magical objects, geometric abstractions and finally kaleidoscopic forms. There are several works in the exhibition that are attempts to bring together painting and building bricks.

Since the exhibition is now in place, I continue to work in my workspace making things unknown at a steady pace.

Sam: The exhibition is such a fantastic (and fantastical) idea. How did you approach this project?

Vincent: I saw in this exhibition project the possibility to show my creations in “museum conditions”—to link them with my other pictorial works and to make a new experience since it is my first solo exhibition of scale. I gave everything I could to materialize the best exhibition possible with the means at my disposal.

Sam: It seems like quite the undertaking. How long have you been preparing this exhibition?

Vincent: I was preparing for it unknowingly since 2018 when I quietly started to do creative brick-work in my apartment. I really started working on it since November 1st, 2021 which left a very short time to produce new pieces and invest in this very large space, take pictures of everything, prepare the catalog, etc. I thank my colleagues at 1000m2 who gave me the strength to make this exhibition a reality!

Sam: What are your artistic and musical influences?

Vincent: I have always loved art. I love Stanley Kubrick's films and the interpretations that are made of his work. He is certainly the artist who has given me the most food for thought in my life. My favorite painter at the moment is Victor Vasarely. Music-wise, I love to scratch and create instrumental music on my computer. I listen to a lot of hip hop and apocalyptic jazz (Bohren & der Club of Gore).

Sam: One question that comes up a lot with artists and LEGO… are you a LEGO purist?

Vincent: I'm not a purist at all! I love what the brand does in terms of the availability of parts (the parts catalog is really rich and nice), but I rarely want to buy and build an existing set.

I still regularly fall in love with the Architecture sets but more to modify them into something fun! I like the LEGO Friends and Dots themes for the shapes and colors of pieces that compose them, and I like the Creator and LEGO Ideas themes for their originality.

Sam: I think I already know the answer to this, but do you glue pieces together or destroy them for art?

Vincent: I don't forbid myself from doing anything. I did some tests with a heat gun to see how the plastic reacts which led me to create new things! I'm planning more tests to divert the bricks from their primary function, taking them out of their comfort zone so to speak. I like to test the limits of the mediums I have in my hands.

I also occasionally use bricks that are not necessarily from the Danish brand we both love. I'm a big fan of this construction system but I refuse to limit myself to a specific brand. It's like with paint—I have no problem mixing tubes of different brands!

Sam: You recently published an online store with “goodies” featuring your artwork. How did that come about?

Vincent: Yes, I created an online store this year where you can currently buy a goodies pack (which contains a mix of prints, stickers and my business card). This pack is a companion for the magical items I recently made— it contains an explanation sheet to fully utilize the stories and powers contained in these unique artifacts.

I plan to stock this store with some of the unique items shown in my exhibition when it is finished in April. Then the whole world can enjoy these unique creations!

Sam: One last question. Your art is very unique and personal, even spiritual in some ways. What is the place of spirituality in your art and your inspirations?

Vincent: Spirituality plays a very important role in my life and my work, in my search to understand the world around me and my place on earth. This questioning inevitably resurfaces in my creations and feeds everything that comes out of my workspace—even if it is not necessarily felt when one observes the finished work.

As far as my creative process is concerned, I rely a lot on my intuition and I avoid looking too much at what my fellow artists are doing in order not to be influenced too much.

Sam: Thank you Vincent for sharing your creativity with us and good luck on another year of building!

Vincent: Thank you, Sam!

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