"Desert (Multiple Perspectives)" Kite by Michael Thompson

Chicago-based artist Michael Thompson creates unique kites crafted from split bamboo frames covered with stretched muslin and a collage of vintage Asian ephemera—including fragments of fabric, scrolls, drawings, and books collected during his travels.

In "Desert (Multiple Perspectives)," Thompson layers yellowed antique scroll paintings and vegetable dyed paper fragments to create a neutral composition in black and brown. Like an arid desert landscape the kite has an understated palette and subtle surface texture, traceable in the mottled pigmentation and irregular folds of the layered paper.

Thompson has earned an international reputation for his kite works, an engrossing project initiated by the artist more than a decade ago.

Split bamboo, muslin, paper, natural pigments.