'Flow' at The Venetian Casino

A commission for The Venetian Casino Las Vegas (through Kevin Barry Art Consultants).

I was asked to create an artwork which fitted into a scheme of art curated around the natural world theme. The colour palette of chosen butterflies were tweaked to match the colour scheme of fixtures and fittings within the hospitality space. Rich blues and burnt reds were applied to Blue Morpho butterfly designs, coupled with a 22 carat Gold gilded Oak frame to fit with metal finishes of burnished brass and golds used within the scheme’s furniture.

A gradient of light to dark blue butterflies form a radial composition with a contrasting outline of chequered Bath White butterflies. ‘Flow’ is inspired by the sound large numbers of migrating butterflies make when congregating en masse, said to sound like a waterfall – reflected here both texturally and tonally as a pool of active/moving water.

Each butterfly is handmade out of paper and wire, pinned at different heights to form a densely layered mass of butterflies, seemingly ready to migrate.

All printed on 300gsm Sirio paper in a mix of light reflective and matt paper types.

The depth of 3d butterflies gives the artwork an arresting texture – allowing shadow, light and space for the butterflies to look lifelike.