Hrishikesh Kamble, resident of Sukhsagarnagar in Katraj, has pieced together a Ganapati portrait using Rubik’s Cubes in his home
Pune: Visitors heading to the Ganapati temple near 19-year-old Hrishikesh Kishor Kamble’s home in Sukhsagarnagar, Katraj, this Ganeshotsav are getting an unexpected glimpse of another Ganapati. Kamble, a second-year architecture student and speedcuber, completed the mosaic on Sept 12. I used around 520 cubes, and it took me about four days to complete the mosaic.
Displayed inside the hall of his home, facing the front so that it can be seen from outside, is a mosaic made using 520 Rubik’s cubes. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Pune | Silver Rate in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune | Petrol Price in Pune | Diesel Price in Pune | CNG Price in Pune | LPG Price in Pune Stay updated with the latest Pune news.
I worked on it for about three to four hours a day,” said Kamble. It is about getting every part of the picture right,” said Kamble. Each cube had to be turned to show the required colour combination, with the individual faces coming together to form a larger image when viewed from a distance. “The idea came from thinking about how a photograph could be broken down into small blocks of colour and recreated using cubes. I thought of converting an ordinary photograph into pixels and then creating the image using Rubik’s cubes. The finished work has become an incidental attraction for people visiting the nearby temple. Since it is visible from the front of the house, passers-by can see the mosaic without entering the premises, with some stopping to take a closer look. “Whether it is art or speed solving, both draw on the same familiarity with the mechanics of the cube. The mosaic, however, calls for patience rather than speed. In speedcubing, the objective is to find and execute a sequence of moves as quickly as possible. For a mosaic, the result matters more than the time taken to get there. Download the TOI App.
Kamble’s fascination with the cube began during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when he was in Std VI and started learning to solve it through YouTube videos. His first solves took about a minute, but after learning advanced methods online, he brought that down to around 15 seconds. He has also trained more than 200 students online, including learners from the US, Canada, Australia and Dubai, and has participated in World Cube Association competitions.
What began as a way to spend time during the lockdown gradually developed into competitive speedcubing. The teenager now spends at least three hours a day practising. He is now preparing to attempt a Guinness World Records entry.
It is one of several such works Kamble has created, with his earlier mosaics featuring celebrities, sportspersons and anime characters.