What started as a passion and desire to use his talents for God’s kingdom has led Landon Hays to become a Rubik’s Cube artist and ambassador.
Growing up, Hays always loved putting together jigsaw puzzles. When he was 14 years old, he saw some of his peers solving Rubik’s Cubes and decided that it was time for him to take on a new challenge. A week later, he began to learn to solve Rubik’s Cubes on his own, and has been practicing ever since.
At 16 years old, Hays came across Rubik’s Cube artist Giovanni Contardi, and was deeply inspired and in awe of how someone could turn these small cubes into masterpieces.
“I was bewildered by the stuff he made,” says Hays. “It was so amazing, and I told myself that if I could figure out how to get a supply of Rubik’s Cubes, and how to design portraits, I knew that I could do it one day.”
In 2019, Hays found the opportunity he needed to create his first piece when he was invited to do a senior project for his high school. The project would allow him to receive the honors seal for graduation. He came across a company that shipped Rubik’s Cubes to schools for projects, and he was approved to create a 600-cube portrait. His next step was to figure out who should be the subject of the portrait.
“I chose Jesus because he is the Lord and Savior of my life, and there was no greater person to walk this planet than Him,” Hays said.
His portrait of Jesus was shared all over the county’s school district. After this project was completed, Hays had to ship the cubes back to the company, but he knew deep down that he had discovered a new gift and passion that he felt God had given him, and wanted him to continue to pursue.
For his 18th birthday, Hays asked for 500 miniature Rubik’s Cubes and started to make more portraits with them. He created portraits of trending topics, sports figures, and celebrities. As Hays continued to create portraits and share them on social media, he gained the attention of the Rubik’s Cube company, who contacted him to be an official ambassador and content creator. They then sent him 1,000 Rubik’s Cubes to work with. Since then, he’s seen God open doors for him to use his talent.
During his freshman year at SEU, Hays attended a youth conference. While listening to Tim Somers, the youth pastor at Elevation Church, Hays made eye contact with him from the crowd and felt the Holy Spirit tell him that he needed to introduce himself to Somers and show him his heart. After much apprehension, Hays listened to the leading of the Holy Spirit and introduced himself to Somers, who then invited him up to Elevation Church that summer to make portraits of the guest speakers for one of their youth conferences. Hays made 20 portraits for them.
This past summer, Bleacher Report asked to share the portrait Hays created of former NBA legend Bill Russell. It garnered more than two million views on Instagram. This led to one of the largest soccer organizations in the world, FC Bayern Munich, reaching out to him to design a portrait of one of their summer signings, Sadio Mané. As a junior and graphic design major, Hays wants to continue to use the talent he has with Rubik’s Cubes to glorify God.
“My life is a testament to Psalm 37:4. God knows my heart, and my heart is to honor and glorify Him in everything that I do. I started with a crazy dream and now I am living my dream. I’m thankful for the opportunities God has given to me.”
Thank you, Landon, for sharing your story! We’re honored to have you here at SEU, and can’t wait to see the ways in which the Lord continues to use you to make an impact in the lives of many. Watch more about Landon here.
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BA/BS Degree in Graphic Design
BA Degree in Visual Art
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