Louis Kahn is an intensely focused artist, devoted to a painstaking technique of drawing with tiny dots. He has been making art at Cedars Fine Art Studios since he retired from working at a local grocery store in 2016. According to people close to him, Louis’s discovery of his talent for expressing himself through art has been very meaningful and beneficial to him. Louis has powerful memories of going to museums with his family on childhood trips to Europe. He says this early exposure to art, thanks to his artist father, had a profound effect on his later development as an artist.

Louis’s choice of subject matter has shifted over the years. He worked non-representationally at first, until one Halloween he drew a series of playfully transformed jack-o-lanterns. These inventive improvisations opened the floodgate of his creativity. Other early subjects that captured Louis’s fascination include Andy Warhol’s soup cans and Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits. He started listening to peaceful Buddhist music during Covid lock down; this led to an ongoing series of depictions of Buddhist deities. Landscapes and animals are other favorite subjects.

His signature pointillistic style grew organically from an early inclination to fill backgrounds with patterns of short lines. The lines became dots, and he soon discovered he could create entire images with dots instead of lines. Louis portrays his subjects with charming straightforwardness. This combines with his visually exciting pointillist technique to result in work that sparkles with energy and wit.