Meet Pete

This is Pete Fecteau. Back in 2010, whilst working for a company that decided to sponsor a design competition, Pete wanted to enter the competition but couldn’t decide what to do. He grappled with the challenge, all the while fiddling with a Rubik’s Cube. Then the answer came to him in a dream: he would do a portrait of someone he admired, Dr Martin Luther King, and he would make it out of Rubik’s Cubes. (If you build it, they will come.)

Some comments:

• The work is named “Dream Big”.

• The final image was first designed by a computer.

• With the help of six volunteers, Pete solved the 4242 Rubik’s cubes in the proper way to fit the final creation. That took about 40 hours.

• Assembling the cubes took an additional five and a half hours. 

• At completion, the project weighed roughly 1000 pounds (454 kg), measured 19′ x 8’6″ x 2.25″ (5.8m x 2.6m x 5.7cm), and cost $9000.

• Though he was not able to find a buyer for “Dream Big,” Pete feels the hard work was still worth it. He estimates that during two weeks it was displayed his piece was seen by over 30,000 people.  As I said before, if you build it, they will come.

Gallery:

After "Dream Big”, Pete created another Rubik’s Cube art work that is twice the size of "Dream Big” and uses only 5 of the colours on a Cube: Blue, Red, Orange, Yellow, and White. It is of Albert Einstein and is called “Gray Matters”. It had a $90,000 price tag but I am unaware as to whether it has sold.

Pete has since created other Rubik’s Cube works:

Pete's optical illusion via Rubik

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And on the topic of Rubik . . .