Poppies Illuminate Las Vegas Sphere in Wickedly Wonderful Display

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sphere (@spherevegas)

Las Vegas shares some similarities with the mythical land of Oz. Both are big, shiny cities where people travel from far and wide to have their wishes granted. This makes it a fitting place to show the iconic American movie, The Wizard of Oz, which has been adapted to fit a much bigger, more advanced screen. Or rather, a 160,000-square-foot wraparound LED display— and that’s just the inside of Sphere, located east of the famous Las Vegas Strip. The Exosphere display spans 580,000 square feet, making it the largest LED screen in the world and a dream venue for multimedia artist Stormy Pyeatte.

Recently, the Sphere has been using original art to promote the 1939 musical fantasy as part of its XO/Art program. XO/Art is a collaboration between creatives and the Sphere to showcase their work. Stormy Pyeatte is one of those artists. Based in London, Stormy’s enchanting art blends nature and technology, capturing the organic world in ways that conventional photographs could never do. Her floral scenes perfectly encapsulate the wonderfully whimsical aesthetic surrounding the movie.

The title of this XO/Art collaboration is Slumber, inspired by the red poppy scene in The Wizard of Oz. In the film, the Wicked Witch of the West curses a field of crimson blooms to put Dorothy to sleep. The movie was filmed using thousands of handmade, crepe-paper flowers, but Pyeatte uses real poppies for her scene. The arrangement of the flowers, along with lighting, atmospheric, and technological effects like projection mapping, brought Pyeatte’s vision to life. When projected on the Sphere, it’s like looking into the Wicked Witch’s crystal ball.

Pyeatte’s work is vivid and hypnotic as she captures the beauty of flowers in 3D with videos that draw viewers into soft, rippling illumination. Additionally, she collaborates with brands to spotlight products in a way that is carefully composed and supplemented with her signature style. In a world where we are exposed to so many harsh lights from screens all day long, art like this is a treat for the eyes and a welcome sight brought to Las Vegas’s cityscape.