A young Harrow artists uses a more unusual art form, pointillism - a brand of impressionism. I spoke to 25-year-old Karun Soni, to find out more about his wonderful work…

This Is Local London:

What is your earliest memory of art – making or seeing?

My earliest memory was certainly creating. I was painting sunsets in Goa, when I was seven-years-old. I remember these long walks and weird baby crabs jumping out of holes in the sand, biting you as you walked along the beach. I didn’t care because it was the most stunning sunset you’ll ever see. I went back last year and it was just as incredible.

Where did you go to school?

Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood.

Was creativity encouraged at school?

Certainly, mostly around idea development. My art teachers used to ask for something like 10 sketches a week- which would force students to develop and record their ideas. I think this was really important. The art department ethos was that art should be fun, yet deadlines needed to be met. A lot of us used to stay after school for a couple of hours once or twice a week, so we were certainly engaged.

What did you do after leaving school?

I did a foundation year at Ravensbourne in Art & Design, and then went to the University of Leeds reading Graphic and Communication Design.

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Describe your work?

I’ve given it a name! It is called: ‘Dotty’. It is a kind of pointillism, where I use fragmented brush strokes to create wild explosions of colour, with high contrast. It’s light hearted name and unorthodox approach is celebrating art as something that should be universally fun.

If you look up Dotty in the dictionary it means: ‘eccentric or slightly mad’. I love this as a representation of the brand, as it is a completely scattered and disorganised in style, yet only pulled together by the object I’m depicting.

In terms of subject matter, I’ve been doing commissions for 8 years for a large number of clients- so it certainly varies! I have also done a number of independent projects, where I create bodies of work based on my own interests. Every now and again I’ll do a fairly ‘random’ piece as a matter of urgency after some strong inspiration. One of example of this is ‘The Dotty Tree’ which was inspired by a dream where I walked underneath this mysterious, colourful, magical tree. I woke up and immediately started painting it!

What materials do you use?

Almost all of my paintings are oil on canvas. However, I have recently leveraged my knowledge from my Graphic Design course to create illustrations in print! I then took this a step further in a piece called ‘Mumbai Gardens’ where I painted over a graphics print to create a mixed media final piece.

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Where do you find inspiration?

When I’m not doing commissions, the inspiration for my own projects always comes from a personal space, as I said before- this takes shapes in many ways, even something as instant as the dream that inspired the Dotty Tree. I think being honest with myself, keeping a clear head and getting inspiration from other art forms (mostly music) is really important.

One important example of something that has heavily inspired me is my grandmothers record collection, which was the spark that led to a large amount of my work to date. After scratching the surface and looking at these designs, I began looking into my grandparents and their experiences transitioning from India to the UK.

It sparked conversations about what it is like to be a British Asian today, where you are awkwardly wedged between the traditions and expectations of your elders vs the more natural pull into being a Westerner. I get inspiration through juxtaposing and combining both worlds. Some of my art is inspired by events even further back, such as The British Raj. This also places one in an awkward emotional state, examining how the place I currently live in exploited the country my grandparents and father are from. My deepest inspiration comes from creating art that is personal, and to do this I’ve had to be true to myself to create something raw and honest.

How can we view your work?

You can find all of my work on my Facebook Page: ‘Dotty Art’ or Instagram : ‘@dotty.art’