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The child of Cambodian immigrants living in Los Angeles, Andrew Hem’s illustrative paintings bridge disparate aesthetic influences as well as cultural touchstones and sensibilities. Using a cool palette with colors that do not quite match up with the real world, the artist creates somber moods in illusionistic spaces set at a remove from reality. With its supernatural rendering of the natural world Hem’s color scheme elicits comparisons to impressionism. Hem also echoes graffiti art based on his straightforward and illustrative rendering of figures and space, as well as allusions to street culture, art, and fashion. Andrew Hem is a graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA.