"Storm Grasses" 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 “Storm Grasses,” an inky haze covers the canvas, much like a warm thunderstorm rolling in above a meadow. Celebrating the joy of a summer rain, gentle striations interrupt the painting's cloudy surface, like a field of tall grass waving in the wind.

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, rice paper, pigments.