Artist Sean Kenney Crafts NYC Landmarks & Buildings From Tens of Thousands of LEGOs

From a 4-foot tall <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/empire-state-building-achieves-leed-gold-certification/" target="_blank">Empire State Buildin</a>g made with 13,000 pieces to an incredibly detailed honey bee and family portraits, artist Sean Kenney has crafted just about everything from <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/legos/" target="_blank">LEGOs</a>. The self-proclaimed "professional kid" spends his days building amazing artworks, models, and more from everyone's favorite building block. We've featured his work before -- he crafted this amazing <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/i-beam-design-uses-20000-legos-to-create-a-playfully-pixelated-new-york-city-apartment/" target="_blank">20,000 LEGO apartment</a> renovation and this model of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/10-foot-tall-replica-of-the-trump-tower-made-with-65000-legos/" target="_blank">Chicago's Trump Tower</a> -- and we recently came across his extensive <a href="http://www.seankenney.com/portfolio/new_york_city_models/" target="_blank">collection of New York City creations</a>. Kenney, who resides in the Big Apple, has been recreating his hometown in LEGOs for more than a decade. Here, we've pulled together a few of our favorite NYC pieces!

Sean Kenney has created public commissioned works for big names like Google, the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/empire-state-building-achieves-leed-gold-certification/" target="_blank">Empire State Building</a>, the Philadelphia Zoo, and Nintendo, and he crafts countless pieces for families and private individuals. Commissioned to be the centerpiece of the landmark's gift shop, the impressive Empire State Building model stands 4-feet tall and is made from 13,000 tiny LEGO bricks. The top is colored red, white, and blue to replicate the building's famous night lighting, and the base features a detailed street scene, complete with a city bus, tiny pedestrians, and mini <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/an-inside-look-at-nycs-nissan-nv200-taxi-of-tomorrow/" target="_blank">yellow cabs</a>.

Kenney is something of a LEGO star, having been featured in the New York Times, BBC News, <a href="http://gma.yahoo.com/" target="_blank">Good Morning America</a>, and more. His 22,000-LEGO model of Times Square took him 300 hours to build..

While the buildings are impressive as a whole, the playful details, like the Naked Cowboy in Times Square, really bring his art to life. The <a href="http://www.seankenney.com/portfolio/times_square/" target="_blank">model</a> features everything you love (or hate) about Times Square, including hotdog carts, tourists, red double decker buses, flashing lights, and two working digital screens.

Another extremely impressive piece is the 45,000-LEGO model of <a href="http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=nyy&amp;sv=1" target="_blank">Yankee Stadium</a>. The stadium was built on a scale of approximately 1:150.

An elevated subway train -- complete with a subway station -- runs alongside the stadium, 1,700 mini LEGO people populate the stands, and tiny ads line the scoreboard. Kenney's attention to detail make his pieces endlessly fun to examine.

At left, a food cart from Kenney's Bleecker Street scene. At right, a 2.5-foot-tall Chrysler Building made from 1,605 LEGOs.

In 2009, the New York Stock Exchange commissioned Kenney to create <a href="http://www.seankenney.com/portfolio/nyse/">a mini replica of the iconic building</a>. The finished sculpture is three feet tall and on permanent display inside the NYSE.

The sculptural figures in the <a href="http://www.seankenney.com/portfolio/nyse">NYSE fresco</a> took Kenney three full days to complete. It's amazing how well he replicated the neoclassical architecture and figures with tiny square pieces of plastic.

Kenney has spent countless hours creating replicas of New York City taxi cabs. Here, four mini models are pictured. He's also created a <a href="http://www.seankenney.com/portfolio/new_york_city_taxi/">large model</a> with 400 LEGOs and a <a href="http://www.seankenney.com/portfolio/tiny_cars/">tiny model</a> with just a few bricks.

Kenney created his <a href="http://www.seankenney.com/portfolio/first_city/" target="_blank">first LEGO city</a> (as an adult) back in 2000. Based on Manhattan, it featured a 5-foot tall Empire State Building, a sunken subway station, the World Trade Center, detailed row houses and more. Above, a detailed scene from Bleecker Street in the village.