Andrew Hem is an illustrator and gallery artist whose illustration clients include The Atlantic, LA Times, Chicago Time Out, New Scientist and Fort Worth Opera.
Hem, originally from Cambodia and now based in Los Angeles, studied at the Art Center College of Design.
He works in gouache and acrylic in a painterly, textural style that is not evident in the small images accompanying this post. Fortunately his works are reproduced larger on his website. There they are arranged by year. Don’t miss the Sketches section, which reproduces Moleskine pages of location sketches in South America, Asia and the U.S (reproduced a bit small unfortunately).
Hem often employs a restrained palette, in which gray blues and muted reds are punctuated with passages of higher chroma and value.
His color choices sometimes lean more toward expressionistic than naturalistic. He uses that effect, combined with his stylized figures and atmospheric control of values, to create intense moods. In addition, his main figure is often looking directly at the viewer, seeming to break the fourth wall and engage you directly.
Hem also maintains a blog titled Idrewhim, on which you can find additional works, sketches, works in progress and larger crops and reproductions of some pieces.
[Via Illustration Mundo]
I like the way those two girls’ faces are so illuminated – makes the painting feel almost three dimensional and highlights the mystical dimension of the other aspects of the painting.
These are absolutely stunning.