Gift Idea: DIY Art Pens

Art pens for father's day. 

Dad is a Wassily Kandinsky lover, so I printed some Kandinsky paintings, rolled the pictures, and put them inside clear pens. The box shows the paintings with their titles and creation year.

You might find that you recognize it. Kandinsky was a "nonobjective" painter who believed, in short, that art should be made up of shapes and colors, interpreted by viewers in order to invoke strong emotions and understanding. He strives to disentangle his work from the literal art that he argues spectators treat as a game of recognition. He discusses his theories in length in his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art. He begins his introduction saying, "Every work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, the mother of our emotions." While I have a hard time nodding to every claim he makes, he writes thoughtfully and passionately, and his book provides an introspective window into his art.