KUALA LUMPUR -- We create art inspired by the things we love. Some people paint a picture of Michael Jackson, others use the computer to digitally re-imagine their favourite Disney character but not many people would have thought of re-assembling Lego minifigures (or minifigs) into music bands.
Except 38-year-old Adly Syairi Ramly.
Adly selects different body parts from up to four Lego minifigs to create a new character. For example, John Lennon from the Beatles.
It takes Adly a few hours to put together the music bands from over 500 minifigs in his collection. That includes taking photos of the bands with his iPhone 5 and then editing the pictures before uploading them onto his Instagram feed.
His works of art have caught the attention of Lego lovers and curious people alike -- to the point that he’s been featured by the international media.
“Being noticed by international media was really overwhelming. I was really thrilled when NME featured me because I’m a fan of theirs,” said the father of two.
New Musical Express or NME is a popular UK pop/rock music publication.
He said that his creations got noticed when he uploaded a photo of Lego minifigs dressed in a popular streetwear brand onto his Instagram. The owner of the brand then reposted Adly’s photo.
It was a coincidence that the owner of the brand was also the editor of “hipster” publication High Snobiety of which Adly is also a fan.
Adly’s Lego minifigs were then featured in High Snobiety and soon, other international news outlets started contacting him.
His love of Lego started when his father bought him a Lego set for his second birthday.
“I’m looking for the exact Lego set my father bought me years ago. It was made in 1978 and it was a building set with a house and a car. I haven’t been able to find it yet but I really want it,” said Adly.
To him, Lego was more of a toy when he was young but as he got older, he realised that Lego transcended all ages and that it was also a collectible.
During his younger years, his dad bought him Lego twice a year but he lost interest in them when he was in Standard 3.
“There were other things to distract you like hanging out with friends and going out,” said Adly.
Somehow in 2011, his love for Lego was rekindled. Adly loves toys and he would visit Toys “R” Us regularly for fun. He got interested in minifigs when he saw them and started “aggressively investing” in them. The first year he started collecting minifigs, Adly spent about RM15,000 to RM20,000!
He’s not big on buying Lego sets, however, and he only buys them for his children. Usually, if he buys the sets, it is for the minifigs that come with them. He would then put the sets back into the box after taking out the minifigs.
So, does he have anything on his wish list?
“I practically have whatever I want except for a few Holy Grails I haven’t managed to get yet. One of them is my first Lego set. I also want a couple of limited edition minifigures. I’m trying to get my hands on the new Simpsons Minifigures collection,” said Adly.
Fortunately for him, Adly knows someone who can sell him these figures at a slightly lower than the market price. Whenever he wants to get a minifigure that’s not sold in Malaysia, he would contact his friends who are living overseas to help him.
Out of all his minifigs, his favourites are the limited edition Star Wars Minifigures with light sabers that can light up. He has three of those and they cost RM300 each!
“I’m crazy about Minifigures. I want to collect all of them. But to spend RM1,000 on one figure, I have yet to reach that level of insanity,” said Adly.
Besides being collectibles, Lego is the “perfect bonding tool” according to Adly. He spent the past four years bonding with his kids over Lego.
One would assume that once he assembles the minifigure into a character, he would keep it that way. But Adly prefers to put them back to their original minifigure once he’s done shooting with them.Adly keeps a chart that helps him organise the pieces. For example if the torso is from Series 6, he would write it down on a chart.
Music bands were not the first that Adly re-created. He actually started off creating album covers.
“I did album covers first and then I got bored. After that, I started doing movies and TV series. It was only mid last year that I made music bands. The latest project I did was the one on popular streetwear brands,” said Adly.
The Lego enthusiast plans to have an exhibition of his Lego re-creations in August. Adly has spoken to the owners of 17A Select Shop in Telawi, Bangsar and plans are underway for the exhibition.
“Initially, I wanted to do a print exhibition but then I decided to show the actual figures instead,” said Adly.
Since his Lego re-creations became viral, people have contacted him to buy the sets or prints. They even requested Adly to re-create their favourite bands. He hasn’t thought of selling the sets or the prints yet.
Adly is also considering producing a limited collection book in conjunction with the exhibition in Bangsar.
“I’m doing this strictly for fun because of passion. It’s my number one reason, not money,” said Adly.
Check out photos of his re-creations on http://instagram.com/adlysyairi
