Interview
SONIA
“Inspired by a work trip
I took to Bogota,
Colombia. My assistant
at the time was helping
me paint a wall. I’m
obsessed with artists
working in their studio
so I created a place and
imagined what her
work would look like.”Gang signs and agriculture: the Cambodian-American
artist tells Gary Evans how his art was shaped by
growing up between two very different cultures...
ARTIST PORTFOLIO
landscapes the traditional Cambodian
way. He learned by studying Edgar
Alwin Payne’s paintings of the
American West. During a recent visit to
Cambodia, he was painting outdoors
in a style that was completely
unfamiliar to the locals. He overheard
people talking behind his back: “What
kind of tree is that?”
His third story is about the Khmer
Rouge. The regime ruled Cambodia for
just four years, but was responsible for
one of the worst mass killings of the
20th century, murdering aroundA
Andrew Hem
LOCATION: US
FAVOURITE ARTISTS: Adrian Ghenie, Anselm
Kiefer, James Jean, Barry McGee, OSGEMEOS
MEDIA USED: Watercolours, gouache, oil
and acrylic
WEB: http://www.andrewhem.comArtist
PROFILE
ndrew Hem’s first story is
about growing up in the Los
Angeles area in the late 80s
and early 90s. Andrew
copied the graffiti he saw
on walls around his neighboured in
Culver City. He thought one font in
particular – big, blocky letters – looked
really cool. So cool, in fact, that he
once handed in homework in a
schoolbook covered with his own
replica of the font. He was 11. His
teacher called him to the front of class.
“Andrew,” the teacher said, “when did
you become a gangster?” Andrew
didn’t know his favourite graffiti
belonged to a notorious, murderous
gang called the Culver City 13.
His second story is about how
everybody in Cambodia paints the
same way. Take, for example, paintings
at Angkor Wat, one of the largest
religious monuments in the world.
They all look like they were done by
one person, even though that would
have been impossible. His parents are
Cambodian – his father’s an artist –
but Andrew didn’t learn to paint25 per cent of the country’s
population. Andrew’s parents f led and
eventually settled in California in- But Andrew was born in 1981,
neither in Cambodia nor in America,
but in Thailand.
These stories suggest Andrew Hem is
a great raconteur. He’s not quite that
chatty. He responds to most questions
with short answers. But when he does
elaborate, when he does bring certain
details into focus, his stories are a bit
like his art. The Cambodian-American
often paints lonely looking figures,
or figures looking lonely even while
part of a group.
However, his work isn’t necessarily
dark or depressing. “A snapshot of a
dream,” one critic called his work.
There are lots of colours. There’s a
I was such an awkward
kid growing up – I didn’t
have any friends really...