100 Variations

(100 altered Rubik's cubes, colour photograps), 2008

A grey-scaled Rubik's Cube forms the basis for this project, which takes the format of a sculptural document.

100 Variations makes reference to Sol Lewitt’s exercises in variation and structural progression, but with a playful approach to material. The Rubik's cube itself embodies ideas about complexity, choice, logic, permutation and pattern. The inherent properties of the cube along with the built in allusion to game-playing and the grid, led me to this systematic exploration in mapping possibility and the nature of form.

(multiple), 2004
2” x 2” x 2”

Originally made as a multiple that eventually became a modular unit for this project. As a stand-alone, the grey-scaled Rubik's Cube offers a simplification of the object, both formally and conceptually. Reduced to a ‘shaded’ white cube, the piece becomes an abridged version of the game wherein the red and green become the same shade of grey, thus reducing the number of possible permutations.

(100 Rubik's Cubes, vinyl stickers, colour photograph) 
 

(100 altered Rubik's cubes, colour photographs), 2008

100 cubes are stacked in 100 different possible variations, limited to a 6 x 6 x 4 cube base. The variations were determined first on paper, then I created each stack and photographically documented the resulting sculptures.

There is a form of trickery at play in the photos since the sense of light and contrast is created not through the photographic process, but through the properties of the gray-scaled cube itself. The forms appear to be lit by a strong directional source despite being evenly lit. The photos of the stacks look as though they are photographed in black and white, but are in fact, colour photos.

(100 gray-scaled Rubik's Cubes, instructions for 100 Variations), 2008
12 x 12 x 12", boxed edition of 3

A box of gray-scaled Rubik's cubes and instructions for creating 100 different stacked variations. One game transformed into another.