Dylan Sadiq at Mets Stadium <\/p>\n
Dylan Sadiq\/The College Cuber (2)<\/p>\n
Dylan Siddique, a 25-year-old artist and biomedical engineer, turned his Rubik\u2019s Cube\u2013inspired hobby into a full-time career creating interactive mosaics for sports fansHe built an 8-foot, 600-pound mosaic of Mets star Francisco Lindor using 700 spray-painted baseballs, finishing it on-site at Citi FieldThe project combined engineering, artistry and fan interaction, earning Siddique recognition for pushing the boundaries of large-scale, interactive art<\/p>\n
Dylan Siddique<\/a> didn\u2019t just think outside the box \u2014 he built one out of 700 baseballs. The 25-year-old artist, known online as the College Cuber, transformed a pile of painted baseballs into an eight-foot-high mosaic of New York Mets star Francisco Lindor, now permanently displayed at Citi Field.<\/p>\n Since earning a biomedical engineering degree in 2022, Siddique has turned his hobby into a full-time career, creating mosaics and live performances for sports teams and fans across the country. With hundreds of thousands of cubes and bricks in his studio, he continues to push the boundaries of interactive art \u2014 one giant mosaic at a time.<\/p>\n A self-taught engineer from New Jersey, Siddique discovered his passion for large-scale mosaics during the pandemic. \u201cI realized pixels on a screen are just tiny colored squares,\u201d he says. \u201cRubik\u2019s Cubes are physical colored squares \u2014 why not make real-life images?\u201d<\/p>\n But translating that concept into a baseball mosaic presented an entirely new challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cThey literally sent 700 New York Mets baseballs to my house, and I spray-painted every single one a different color,\u201d Siddique recalls. \u201cAnd mind you, I do not do this. This is not part of my process. Anytime you try something new, you face a lot of unexpected challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n Dylan Sadiq’s art at Mets Stadium <\/p>\n Dylan Sadiq\/The College Cuber<\/p>\n The multi-month project involved figuring out how to make the paint stick, carefully drying each ball, and constructing a custom frame topped with turf. Then came the painstaking step of securing every baseball.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like a big bed of nails,\u201d he explains. \u201cI screwed every single baseball onto the frame according to my design.\u201d<\/p>\n The finished artwork was enormous \u2014 eight feet tall and weighing 600 pounds. It was too heavy to move, so Siddique had to finish it at Citi Field.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just there at night, by myself,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt was a crazy experience. I finished the piece on site because I couldn\u2019t lift it. Wherever it was going, I thought, \u2018I\u2019m just going to leave it right here.\u2019 And now it\u2019s hanging in the stadium, which is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n For Siddique, the project was about more than the final product \u2014 it was about the process. His interactive art often involves fans, turning live events into collaborative performances. \u201cI\u2019m not just the artist,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m the moderator, helping people create something they\u2019ve never done before.\u201d<\/p>\n The Mets were thrilled with the result. \u201cSeeing the artwork up at Citi Field was surreal,\u201d Siddique says. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to make it in a studio, but to have it on display for fans \u2014 that\u2019s the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n