Sunday, February 12, 2012

  Largest portrait made of dice: Frederick McSwain sets world record (Video)

NEW YORK CITY, USA--Frederick McSwain has created a giant portrait of his deceased friend, Canadian artist and designer, Tobias Wong; the portrait was made using 13,138 dice , setting the world record for the Largest portrait made of dice, according to World Record Academy (www.worldrecordacademy.com).

  Photo: Canadian artist and designer Tobias Wong died last year at the young age of 35, or more specifically, 13,138 days. In tribute, his friend Frederick McSwain created this immense portrait of Wong entitled Die using 13,138 dice as part of the BrokenOff BrokenOff exhibition at Gallery R'Pure in NYC in memoriam to the artist. ( enlarge photo )

The Guinness world record for the tallest column of dice is 32 and was achieved by Hu Hairong (China) on the set of Zheng Da Zong Yi - Guinness World Records Special in Beijing, China .

Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the Largest collection of dice, set by Kevin Cook (USA), who has a collection of 11,097 dice.

   Tobias Wong was 35-years-old when he passed away, more accurately 13,138 days old, so McSwain used a die for every day he lived.

  McSwain used 13,138 dice to create an immense portrait of Wong called Die. It was part of the BrokenOff BrokenOff exhibition at Gallery R'Pure in New York City, which was a memoriam to the artist during New York Design Week.
( enlarge photo )

  Frederick McSwain remembers his friend Tobias Wong as, "one of the funniest people who ever lived. Every day with him was a monumental occasion. He had this big presence. There was something about the way he saw the world, the way he reacted was like the butterfly effect."

  The artist says: "The idea of a die itself was appropriate—the randomness of life. It felt like [a medium] he would use. Because [Tobias] was a very street-level force, I thought it was appropriate [to install] the portrait on the floor.

  "Its not something I wanted to suspend on the wall; I wanted it to be right there on the floor where you almost interact with it. The idea of every decision you make and everything you've done in your life, defines who you are. All of those days symbolically makes up the image of Tobi."