Standing nearly 20 inches tall, the HUGMAN figures will wrap their arms around table legs, sign posts, bicycle racks, trees, fence posts and anything they can get their arms around throughout Los Angeles. Made from rectangular LEGO bricks and customized with a variety of materials such as glass, paint and yarn, these vibrant sculptures will be put in public places from Culver City and Downtown LA to the San Fernando Valley. Angelenos are encouraged to take part in the scavenger hunt by following along on Twitter to help locate these street art sculptures and share a photo using the hashtag #HugmanAdventures.
The HUGMAN street art craze began when Sawaya began placing the human figures throughout New York City in 2009 as a form of street art. Since then, HUGMAN have been found strategically placed across the globe.
For the Los Angeles-based project, blank hugging figures were provided to a variety of creative collaborators to personalize. Collaborators have since painted, drawn and customized the figures as part of the National Hugging Day installation.
“I’m excited to work with some great artists, influencers and designers to bring never-before-seen HUGMAN sculptures to Los Angeles for a great cause,” said artist Sawaya.
Following the one-day art installation, the unique sculptures will be featured in an online art auction to support the Art Revolution Foundation, an organization that works to strengthen art education in schools and supply students with the tools they need to be creative. Select HUGMAN sculptures can be bid on
http://www.CharityBuzz.com.
“Studies show that including art into the classroom curriculum has monumental benefits for students and school culture,” said Nellie Scott, Director of Development for the Art Revolution Foundation. “Unfortunately, not every student has access to these benefits, so Art Revolution Foundation is working to change that.”
Other renowned artists, influencers and designers contributing to Art Revolution’s HUGMAN initiative include: Jonathan Coulton, Chris Miller, Phil Lord, Phil LaMarr, Adam Savage, Paul Sabourin, Greg “Storm” DiCostanzo, Anne Wheaton, Justin Willman, Chris Pirillo, Bronwyn Lundberg, Sarah Zucker, Joseph Scrimshaw, Sean Kuehner, Ben Blacker, Kevin Champeny, Dave Pollot, Marc Fornes, Kim Evey, Greg Benson, Victor Lucas, David Orozco, Judy Richards and more.
In an effort to make HUGMAN available for all to enjoy, the HUGMAN sculpture is currently featured on the LEGO Ideas forum. If it receives over 10,000 supporters, HUGMAN will be nominated as an official LEGO set. Fans can vote for HUGMAN at
tiny.cc/hugman.
