The Dalagang Bukid, Early Traders and Bayanihan. These are popular art pieces by renowned Filipino painter Fernando Amorsolo.

But if you look closely at some artworks, these are actually mosaic pieces made up of Lego studs.

These were made PinoyLUG or Pinoy Lego Users Group whose 100 or more strong members are enthusiasts of the popular toy from Denmark.

President Leslie Araujo said the inspiration for what they eventually dubbed as Project Amorsolo started during the pandemic as he was sifting through his father's postcards.

“He had this collection because he’s a fan of Fernando Amorsolo. He kept those postcards because he really liked them,” Araujo said.

His group PinoyLUG had 21 exhibits previously featuring various subjects ranging from Disney to Marvel characters. But they decided to challenge themselves by doing art pieces.

So how did they do it? Leslie said they divided an image into panels and each panel was assigned to a member. Initially, they named it Project Amor as the members were unaware that they are doing an Amorsolo piece.

“It happened during the pandemic so you can imagine all the hardships that we faced regarding shipping everything here. So we’re hoping the pandemic would end quickly. Giving the patterns to members, we’d ask them to meet up in a place and assemble the patterns we give them,” he said. “And from Project Amor, it would become Project Amorsolo before their very eyes.”

The "Early Traders" piece was made up of 64,512 Lego studs and 52,000 plus estimated Lego elements. It was put together by 43 members of the group.

The "Bayanihan" piece is made up of 52,224 Lego studs and over 42,000 Lego elements. It took 34 members to assemble the mosaic.

Meanwhile, the "Dalagang Bukid" piece was made by a 17-member all-female team. It consists of 27,648 Lego studs and around 36,000 Lego elements.

“Everything took a year to finish, from assembling everything to framing then really delivering it at CCP for it’s initial launch,” Araujo said.

The pandemic was a great opportunity for the group to come up with Project Amorsolo, and they admit that if it weren’t for the pandemic they probably wouldn’t have the time to create such a masterpiece. They said it doesn’t have to take another virus outbreak for them to build a new project.

The Lego mosaics were showcased today at the residence of the Ambassador of Denmark as the group was personally invited by Ambassador Franz-Michael Mellbin. The group in turn presented Ambassador Mellbin with a Lego mosaic of an iconic Danish art piece.

The ambassador praised them for their efforts to introduce art pieces to younger audiences.

“It’s introducing an important artwork to young Filipinos in a form that they can recognize which are Lego as a toy, but it’s also a way to reinvent art by taking everyday objects as Lego pieces and rephrasing them as contemporary art works with this recreations and reimaginations,” Mellbin said.

The Project Amorsolo exhibit will make its next stop in Quezon City in the coming weeks.