Is Sam Bridgham, the beloved, anarchy-inclined, “Lego Bomber” of Durango, getting more respectable by the day?
“Respectable? I would say it’s the other way around. I’ve always been respectable. I’m just getting respect now,” he said. “It will shock certain people to hear that word associated with my name.”
Bridgham’s plastic-based mischief, which many call “fun art,” adds bright splashes of color to plain spaces around the city. Bridgham, the owner of Alpine Educational Associates, has built modifiable Lego creations on wooden poles, stop signs and buildings.
In 2018, the Durango Public Art Commission, now the Creative Economy Commission, awarded him a $1,000 grant to fund more Lego sculptures around the city. Bridgham also has a permanent installation at Fort Lewis College’s John F. Reed Library.
“I’m a vandal with a badge and a budget,” Bridgham joked in a 2018 Durango Herald article.
Still, he’s unrepentant for any past misdeeds, he said.
“I operate in the bounds between ‘can’t’ and ‘shouldn’t,’” he said.
Now, Carbondale Art aRound Town, an annual rotating sculpture exhibit, has accepted Bridgham’s project Solstice Tower for a year`long installation. The Solstice Tower has been at the ill-fated Arc of History site, the intersection of U.S. highways 160 and 550 in Durango.
Interested art aficionados, or aspiring Lego vandals, can join the Carbondale community for its June art walk when the Art aRound Town sculptures are unveiled. The “Lego Bomber” himself will even be in attendance.
In early fall, community members vote on which exhibit artist should receive a $900 honorarium and a $1,000 award for best in show.
smullane@durangoherald.com