Andrew Hem is a Cambodian painter I’ve deeply admired for years. A quick (and fun) story: I found his personal phone number in an art publication that was nearly a decade and a half old. Hem has a substantial following (over 100k on social media) and is a father, so you can imagine my surprise when I called the number and he actually picked up. I created this piece in response to my interview with him. Around the same time, I was revisiting some of James Jean’s early work in Fables and became interested in his use of strong linework and layered “clown color” techniques.