Popular TikTok artist creates cube mosaic to pay homage to Blake Wheeler
The Winnipeg Jets found a creative way to pay homage to captain Blake Wheeler, who recently returned to the ice after recovering from a knee injury.
The team collaborated with a popular artist on TikTok to create a mosaic of Wheeler that is made of hundreds of cubes.
Dylan Sadiq, a New Jersey-based artist who goes by the College Cuber on social media, said he used 560 cubes to create the mosaic, which took about three hours to make.
“I made that video [of Blake Wheeler] a couple of weeks back and Blake got injured around the same time, so we saved the video for his return,” Sadiq said in an interview on Sunday.
“That’s really something special. We’ve been planning it for quite some time.”
Sadiq designed the tribute to Wheeler after connecting with the Winnipeg hockey club weeks ago. He said reaching a fan base hundreds of miles away is meaningful.
“It really means a lot to me that my artwork is really outside from where I’m from,” he said.
“I’m from New Jersey and you guys are from Canada. It’s kind of insane the amount of people that get to see my artwork.”
Sadiq, who is studying biomedical engineering at Rutgers University, started creating cube art last year.
“My inspiration definitely comes from social media,” he said.
“On social media, there are tons of artists, in the sports world, outside the sports world, there are people that do this kind of stuff all the time.”
Sadiq has collaborated with a number of teams and athletes, including the Tennessee Titans and the Anaheim Ducks.
He has made about 75 mosaics so far, with one set of cubes that he uses each time.
- With files from CTV’s Danny Halmarson.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.