Legos are often used as toys by both young and old but for artist Jed Steven Ong Cunanan, it could also be used as a form of expression of artistry.
The young Cunanan proved his passion on the use of Legos to express art when he was able to put together some 200,000 pieces of legos in various colors to make up the sculpture of the flower lady that serve as the motif of the float paraded by the Paragon Suites and Hotel during the 2024 Panagbenga grand float parade.
‘Legos are things that are different and under utilized. It is something that people never thought about. It is a new innovation that I would like to introduce in the making and presentation of floats aside from using flowers to help spice up the celebration,” Cunanan stressed.
It took a year for the young artist to conceptualize the lego-inspired float that depicted the Panagbenga flower ladies and more than three months to build the sculpture, including ensuring its sturdiness that withstood the travel from the parade route at Upper Session road up to the display area at the Melvin Jones grounds.
He admitted that it took some time to assemble the legos on top of each other to allow them to stick like clay that is why a lot of time to build the sculpture and allow it to stand on its own feet. Nylon wires were also used to support the assembled legos that allowed it to remain sturdy through the parade.
Cunanan sourced out the legos from those individuals who tried to get rid of their legos and that it also took some time for him to look for the applicable colors to the Panagbenga float such as pastel yellow, pastel green and pastel purple which are not actually readily available. Legos usually come in red, white, black and blue.
Cunanan took his basic education at the Brent International School and finished his Bachelor of Science in Fine arts at the University of Sto. Tomas.
“Lego is just of the many ways to showcase art works aside from the usual painting. Lego is another form of expression of artistry. Many people think that legos are just simple toys but legos have evolved and become part of artwork,” Cunanan stressed.
The Panagbenga flower ladies that are seen around every festival serves as Cunanan’s inspiration to be able to put together the sculpture and the float. He took the 3D images of the flower ladies and used the instructions from a website that converted the said images to lego sculpture instructions until he was able to make the full blown sculpture using the available legos over the past several months.
The Paragon served as one of the 14 medium floats that formed part of the 33 non-competing and competing floats that joined the Panagbenga grand floral float parade last February 25, 2024.
It was the first time that Paragon fielded a float in the Panagbenga festival that is why the success of its float this year will serve as a motivation for the establishment to join the annual festival highlights to help in providing added attractions to the residents and tourists with innovations just like what had been done in the float that was made up of legos and prepared by no less than a member of the family. By Dexter A. See
