* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Influenced by patterns and cultures from his native Cambodia to the diversity of LA, Andrew’s illustrations often show groups of uniquely rendered urban characters, entangled or entwined, fluidly moving through still spaces from city streets to decidedly rural settings. A quiet energy permeates his work casting the observer as the observed and then reversing it. Andrew’s graffiti years sneak to the surface in his hand lettering which often takes on physical dimensions. Multi-ethnically inspired, and sometimes nonsensical, his dimensional lettering can be seen held in the hands of figures or weaving its way through his illustrations’ plots and settings.
"I really admire Andrew's evolution from his graffiti roots into his figure painting present. The control he has over his work, his overt use of blue, the energy and movement in his paint lines, the exaggerated limbs on his figures, and his realistic landscapes are all qualities I find really intriguing. Andrew's work is illustrative and yet his somber, cool environments slap reality in my face and make me believe that the places he paints are personal and really exist."
"Andrew Hem's work brings so many influences together in one place and does it so well that the response is always, "I've never seen anything like this before" when I look at his work. This makes Hem something of a magician but nothing he does is a trick or an illusion, it's always a work of art."
