00:01Hello, I'm Brixie. I'm a Lego mosaic artist and I've come here to Portsmouth today from sunny Gosport
00:11to put up some more Lego on the streets and that and start to invade Portsmouth if you like.
00:18I've been doing this for about five years, six years now, something like that.
00:24It started off as just like a little project I did just on my own.
00:30Actually, the inspiration initially came from Banksy's exit from the gift shop with Space Invader from France who does mosaic tiles
00:41and he does the game Space Invader and I did think to myself, one, could it be done with Lego?
00:47And two, does Lego stick to walls? And I've since found out that yes, yes it does.
00:52So yeah, I built my first one which was a Yoshi, quite a big Yoshi.
00:57And yeah, I've just fell in love with it. It's what I need really, it just chills my brain, it keeps me occupied and things like that.
01:04It's de-stress and when I sort of get drawn into that sort of Lego mosaic world, I don't think about anything else, just that.
01:12So yeah, I did that, built my own ones and some big ones and then I started doing little ones to stick on the streets and the rest is history, so they say.
01:21So Gospot's been home now for 25 years and yeah, it's like most towns and things like that.
01:29It's dying off, you know, the town centre vibe, the small businesses, the, just the colour and the atmosphere is sort of, is no longer there.
01:39Or it's not no longer there, it's just less than it used to be.
01:43So just by doing small little, you know, mosaic pieces and things like that, normally of cartoons, nostalgia, you know, something people can recognise.
01:51It just sort of brightens the town up and gives something for people to look at when they're sort of out and about.
01:57You know, those that are still out and about and, you know, actually venturing down into the towns instead of just sitting at home.
02:04Yeah.
02:05So it's just, I would say childhood nostalgia for me.
02:08It's obviously interpretive as people say and I don't want people to try and figure out what I was thinking or what I was feeling at the time or anything like that.
02:20I literally want someone to look at Kenny from South Park and go, oh, Kenny from South Park, you know, and sort of have that flashback memory of the time they watched the very first episode of South Park.
02:32Or, you know, when they see Snoopy, you know, I've got a Snoopy running gospel.
02:36I love Snoopy when I was a kid, Ninja Turtles, you know, something that we're doing today, things like that.
02:42You know, it's just to provoke a flash memory, you know, sort of a happy time, you know, be it in childhood or even in adult life.
02:51You know, there's some cartoons I've said, you know, Pac-Man or games even, you know, Pac-Man the game.
02:57People like me and older than me will remember that, whereas the younger generation have no idea what Pac-Man is.
03:02You know, it's also a promotion.
03:04By the way, kids, this is what we used to play back in the day.
03:07So, yeah, it's just something just to sort of get everyone involved.
03:11It's for all ages, all people.
03:14Yeah, I just want people to have a happy thought and a happy memory when they're looking at these instead of looking at the empty shops
03:21and it being a bit dull and be like, ugh, you know, I don't want to do this, you know.
03:26So I try and rescue as much Lego as humanly possible.
03:30A lot of the time, I say a lot of the time, some of the time it's donated.
03:33So people like me, they message me and sort of say, I've had this Lego sitting around for ages.
03:38You know, it will get thrown away otherwise. Do you want it?
03:41I say yes every time without fail.
03:43It doesn't matter if it's small quantity or big quantity.
03:47It's plastic, you know, it's injection mold plastic and it lasts forever.
03:52So if I can sort of hold it and keep hold of it and, you know, when I do shift it on, I make sure I shift on to the stuff that I personally don't use.
04:00I shift on to the actual Lego, like people, people that make other stuff, you know, other artwork, other models.
04:07But yeah, I sort of buy as much as possible.
04:10Facebook marketplace, car boot sales, you name it.
04:13I've even fished out of bins before, like a really cool kid.
04:17But yeah, it's plastic, it doesn't degrade and stuff.
04:20I love Lego to pieces, but yeah, it doesn't degrade.
04:23So if I can keep it, you know, out of the bins, out of the oceans, things like that, you know, I try my best to do so.
04:29Plus, I think personally it's better in my hands than it is stuck in the attic for 20 years or something, you know, at least I can make some use of it and stuff like that.
04:40And not only that, but the stuff I shift on, you know, other kids can enjoy it and their kids and their kids, you know, Lego will last that long.
