Rubik Cubism

Analogue art for the Pixel Generation Rubik Cubism.



Aside from the initial wow factor I find this really interesting. In effect it isn't really that far from 19th century pointillism, probably the most famous of which is Seurat's riverbank park scene "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte". The pointillists were experimenting with pure colour and the light mixing that goes on in human vision, in order to create vibrant and 'pure' colours. By being limited to the small number of bright colours on a Rubik's Cube the creators are taking advantage of the exact same colour mixing techniques. (Like pointillism these works are best seen from a distance, or in the case of these as thumbnails.)



In concept though I think this is more about computer era pixel art. I remember making game sprites on the Commodore 64 way back in the early days of computers, and using the small grid and limited colours to make little Space Invader style monster sprites (that did nothing but move from one side of the screen to the other, but were still awesome). Jump forward 20 plus years and there is a whole Pixel Art movement. Artists pushing individual pixels in a grid, in software like Microsoft Paint, to create (often quaint) artworks.

The nostalgia and wow factor comes from the materials. So clever to think of using the colours and natural grid of a Rubik's Cube to replicate the same effect! There's quite some budget at work here, having the funds to buy that many Rubik's Cubes, and lots and lots of time and skill spent turning the buggers to create the right colour grid for each one. I would assume that modern technology has come into play in preparing the works, loading a photographic image into software, enlarging the pixel grid and limiting the colour palette in order to plan the works.

Digital meets Analogue.

[Link via things magazine.]