PICTURES FOR THE SKY: Art Kites ...

PICTURES FOR THE SKY: Art Kites edited by Paul Eubel (Te Neues/Prestel: $69.95). Paul Eubel, who works at the Goethe Institute in Osaka, requested artwork that could be made into kites from 100 artists, including Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg and Kenny Scharf. The resulting pieces will be displayed at EXPO 92 in Seville and at various museums around the world, ending with Montreal in June, 1993, when the kites will be sold to benefit the United Nations Disaster Relief Fund. It’s interesting to see how the artists worked within the constraints dictated by the shapes and materials of Japanese kites: The results range from Richard Paul Lohse’s rainbow abstraction and Rissa’s prismatic scorpion to Toshimitsu Imai’s elegant evocation of a traditional Japanese screen. These painting gave the artists a chance to soar--literally and figuratively, as some of the most striking photographs show Japanese crews flying the kites at Himeji Castle.