Creating Masterpieces, One Rubik’s Cube at a Time
A little over a year ago, then 13-year-old Daniella asked her mother, Nicole, to buy her 1,000 Rubik’s Cubes.
“I was like, sorry, no, I’m not doing that,” Nicole recalls. “She’d never played with Rubik’s Cubes before and I couldn’t see why she’d want so many of them. But she kept asking and finally I said yes. After seeing what she can do with them, I felt so bad about saying no at first!”
What can she do with them? Create artistic masterpieces.
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Using between 25 and 2,000 cubes, Daniella has crafted stunning portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Ruth Bader Gingsburg, James Dean, Albert Einstein, and dozens of other familiar faces from her home studio in Los Angeles. In addition to creating famous portraits in various sizes to sell, she also takes commissions and lately has been adding additional elements to her work such as splattered paint effects.
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Daniella has always been attracted to art, and in addition to her cube art she dabbles in designing custom T-shirts for her brand, The Cubist, and recently experimented with making a table out of the cubes.
“I like trying new things that are different and a bit more out of the box,” she says. Adds Nicole: “She makes just about everything. She’ll take her clothes and paint on them, do iron ons, design hats and shoes: she is truly an artist.”
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Each work of art made from cubes first starts as a grid on an iPad. Daniella will take the concept—say, the portrait of John Lennon in the lobby at Malibu Beach Inn—and draw out every color, shadow, and detail of the piece before starting the process of solving the hundreds of cubes to match the outline. Depending on the piece, she’ll incorporate small, medium, and large cubes until the final product is as nuanced as a painting.
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In addition to Malibu Beach Inn, Daniella’s work can be found in homes, at Mani Brothers Real Estate Group and Alice + Olivia, and will be featured at the upcoming Beverly Hills Art Show. To see more of Daniella’s work and purchase a piece of your own, visit her Instagram page, @iamthecubist, and website, iamthecubist.com.
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