hilitehead

It wasn’t long until I stumbled upon Heesco’s art, whose work reflects a deep appreciation for intricate design elements and the dark subconscious workings of the inner mind. With a symbiotic delight of ghoulish characters and the obscure, Heesco’s style maintains an eerie and morbid output of strange creatures and people with over-emphasized features, full of wonder and turmoil.

Heesco a.k.a Kh.Khosnaran currently lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. Born and raised in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, he moved to Australia in 1999. A graduate from the Sydney College of the Arts, Heesco artworks are thoughtful and socially conscious of his traditional and contemporary cultural influences, fused with a surreal line-work aesthetic encapsulated in shadows grand as a moon can cast into a virile garden of imagination that every good Nosferatu would enjoy. Mending an all together raw sensibility, Heesco’s works in various mediums imaginable – from painting, illustration, graffiti to his self published zines in a pace that never slows. His multicultural artworks are genre defying, while his bold work ethic places him a forefront contender both in the arena of Contemporary Mongolia Art and emerging Mongolian graffiti movement.

Throughout the duration of our email communication, I was happy to get the chance to learn about Heesco’s art and life. His talent and determination truly serve as an inspiration to me and hopefully will to many others. With such a small number of talented Mongolian artists spread throughout the world, it’s always a special time for me when I get the opportunity to establish a bond with fellow compatriots and artificers. They are true diamonds in the rough, and I only hope to help expose their most deserved talents and unique sensibilities thorough the “Featured Mongolian Artist” interviews.

Read the full interview detailing Heesco’s background, studio practice, sources of inspiration and his curious brainstorming process after the jump…

Metrosexy

1. Please give us a brief bio, where are you from and how you got started in this field?

I was born and raised in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I came to Australia at the age of 20. I live and work in Melbourne now.

I got started fairly early I guess. I was that kid in class who’d draw all the time. Most of my notebooks were half filled with drawings from the back. After high school I kind of knew I wanted to become professional about art.

Heesco Vice Magazine

2. Where does your name ‘Heesco’ come from?

It goes back to my high school days. My classmates came up with it. It evolved from Hosoo to Hosko to Heesco somehow. These days even my mum calls me that.

3. What major themes do you pursue in your paintings, drawings, and graffiti?

Themes come and go, some of it comes from personal experiences, and some are more observational. My works were pretty escapist kind of stuff earlier. I was into comic books a lot, and I think the storytelling part is still kind of inherent in my works. I also grew up with grunge and metal stuff, and that aesthetic informs a lot of my work as well. I’m still exploring and experimenting with the medium. I’m having fun. People sometimes seem to forget that it’s meant to be fun.

right: The Butcher
left: Table Top Joe

4. Would you please share with us about your creative process – how do you balance technical skills with aesthetic content, and intellect with intuition?

It’s mostly instinct really, I guess. Some paintings are pre-planned; others are resolved as they progress, depending on the project. Most commission works are planned out a bit beforehand, I’m either given a brief with guidelines and instructions, or we talk about it and work it out. Either way, I’m working to someone else’s expectations, so planning out, and resolving the composition and the color scheme etc beforehand is important. When it comes to personal works it’s more looser, and experimental. I battle those to get the right balance of things, and try out and learn new techniques.

Dolgion

5. Your portfolio reveals your interest in various artistic mediums, but what is your all time favorite medium of choice and why?

Drawing is the foundation of creativity to me. I spent a fair bit of time working with ink on paper. I still love doing it. I love the sharp and clean look of ink drawings. I was pretty obsessed with cross hatching for a while. I get a good kick out of shading things, it’s pretty therapeutic, and really relaxes me.

Zombie Girls

6. What kind of influence(s), if at all, does your culture have on your art?

It’s beginning to influence my work more so lately than before. I’m trying to learn more about Mongolian history. The warrior culture is of big influence. and I’m interested in Mongolian shamanism as well. Some crazy imagery there. I also started looking into the Tibetan Buddhist thankas, trying to study their structure and meanings of details etc a bit. It’s all very complex and interesting.

Shamans

7. Any historical and/or contemporary artists that currently influence your work?

I really like Goya. When I first saw his “Saturn Devouring His Son” painting it felt like I got punched in the stomach. I’ll never forget that. Every time I see someone’s work that’s really good to me, I feel that same kind of gut feeling. Works like that get me ticking inside, and make me want to paint better, and paint more. These days I follow a few blogs etc, but I try not to look too much. I look at stuff to get motivated and not for influence so much.

8. Correct me if I’m wrong…I read on your website that you were first schooled in art in Mongolia during a time of Communist propaganda and heavy censorship. How has living in different cultures through various political systems throughout the years affected your life, art, and way of seeing?

That’s a bit of a deep question! I guess I observed and learned a lot from living through that. I’m pretty lucky I got those experiences. I didn’t study art in Mongolia. Communism collapsed when I was like 11. I still have vivid memories from those early days. I went through Russian kindergarten and school. I grew up with a lot of Russian culture around me. Lots of propaganda imagery, and lots of Russian fairy tales and cartoons. They were pretty awesome. I feel that those years had a lot of impact on who I became later. When all that fell apart, I was pretty confused, like the rest of the country. There were some hard times. If anything, it taught me to be a stronger person. I’m glad I went through that kind of experience.

I also lived in Poland for a couple of years when I was in my early teens. That period was pretty influential as well. There I got introduced to western pop culture a bit more. When I moved to Australia I had just turned 20, and I got gradually assimilated into this culture. Australian culture is pretty easy. Australia provided me with a lot of opportunities, and helped me grow up properly as an adult.

Untitled (Series from “Six Feet Over” art exhibition)

10. What kind of challenges did you have to face in establishing a name for yourself upon your entrance into the Australian graffiti culture?

I just wanted to work hard and try to do the best work I can, and hopefully people will respond to it. I met a lot of like-minded fellow artists, and once you’re surrounded by people like that, it feels right, and makes you feel more energized, we feed off each other’s energy. I moved into Blender studios in Melbourne which helped me a lot. Blender is an institution pretty much. It has a long and colorful history, and I couldn’t be happier to be part of it.

Heesco AC/DC Lane, Melbourne

9. What prompted your decision to leave Mongolian and immigrate to Australia?

I left because I wanted a change. It was a combination of external and internal factors. It was a generational thing as well. Most of my friends left around that time. I guess we could see the opportunities abroad, perhaps it didn’t seem so distant to us, compared to the older generations. Life wasn’t easy in Mongolia in those days. Every day was a struggle, pretty much. It was fairly hard being a student in Ulaanbaatar, and having an arts career was just plain impossible. It was very difficult to leave my family and friends behind, but I had to do it. I wanted to learn things, take chances, explore the world.

Vortex Frame of Mind

11. I was recently exposed to the Mongolian graffiti culture in Ulaanbaatar through a couple of websites online, I understand that the scene is fairly new and very much underground. Please expand on this topic and share with us your knowledge on this emerging movement?

It’s still pretty small compared to other places, but it’s been around for a while now. I remember when the first pieces started appearing in the city in late 90’s. I knew next to nothing about graffiti then. Later I found out it was this dude called ANZ, who pretty much was the first one to start painting, and kick started the whole thing. These days there are a fair few crews who go around painting the city. younger generation get a lot more information off the net, and get their influences looking up contemporary artists from abroad. But there’s a momentum going on where some dudes starting to incorporate more traditional Mongolian elements, and I think it’ll soon evolve into a particular unique style of its own. It’s pretty tied to the local hip-hop scene, where guys like Gee and Click Click Boom crew, and Gangsta Service, and Genie are bringing out a very unique style of hip-hop that’s full of social awareness and commentary, with much rougher, more real life attitudes that’s helping to shape the contemporary scene in Mongolia. There’s a documentary coming out soon on Mongolian Hip-Hop scene called “Mongolian Bling”, made my good friend Benj Binks. I had a hand in overseeing its English subtitles. Keep an eye out, it’s pretty awesome.

12. How do you perceive the future of Mongolian graffiti?

It will only grow bigger and better really. I see a lot of talent and a lot of potential (thanks to facebook). and I also hope that what I’m doing will have some sort of small impact on the scene back home in terms of motivating younger kids to get more active and get involved in the scene.

Trying hard to be Meaningful

13. What do you think about the contemporary art scene in Mongolia? And how do you perceive the future of Mongolian art? What do you think are some of the benefits and disadvantages of being an artist in Mongolia today?

That’s a different ball game altogether. I met a fair few of the artists who’re leading the contemporary art movement in Mongolia, and had a chance to discuss some of the issues. Let’s face it, Mongolia is a third world country with high level of poverty, and arts in general are not given enough funding or consideration for it to develop properly. We need a proper fine arts education in schools and universities. The general public needs to be educated more about fine arts, and street art is actually a good medium to get the public involved and make aware of visual arts in general. I’m sure with recent mining boom injection into our economy would have some positive influence in the arts field as well. Mongolia has a rich history and tradition, and is one of the very few places in the world that’s still perceived as ‘exotic’. It’ll change soon enough, it’s already started. I want to see more art that deals with contemporary issues, about life in the city, about life in the country. We’re still going through some drastic changes and there are some areas in the city where you can really see the contrast between the rich and the poor, the new and the old. It kind of makes me think about the Weimar Republic in the 1930s, in terms of all the social changes and questions and issues that come along with that. I’m sick and tired of seeing people paint the same landscapes and horses.

(Series from “Mongo Hustle” art exhibition)

14. What inspires you to keep going and how do you keep yourself motivated?

I don’t know how to put it into words. I think it’s the same with anyone creative. I have to draw, I have to paint, there’s no other way around. That’s what I do, that’s what I’m good at. I start going a little crazy if I go for too long without any kind of creative release. It’s like a medical condition, you know. I used to be a very angst teen, and that energy used to fuel a lot of my art back then. These days I’m not so angry anymore, but I still have a lot of energy, it’s a more positive life kind of energy, and I channel it through. I love being busy. I love working to deadlines. I’d hate to be that lazy dude on the couch.

left: Exit Strategy (Riso Print)
right: Congestion

15. What future plans do you have? Any dream projects…

Will see…

16. Professionally, (career-wise) what’s your goal? How do you bridge the gap between creativity and business?

I don’t have a big goal, except for being able to do what I want and make a living out of it. I been through a fair bit so far that taught me a lot about handling the business side of things. It’s always going to be tricky. Artists are emotional and intuitive kind of people and it takes a certain skill to be able to switch to being more practical and logical, and business minded I guess.

17. What are you working on at the moment? Any upcoming exhibitions or projects that you are excited about?

Started thinking about the next solo show. Meanwhile, there are smaller jobs here and there that keep me busy… business as usual.

The Nameless

18. If you were to describe yourself in one word, what would it be?

One word?! I don’t know…

19. Lastly, any words of advice for aspiring artists?

Keep drawing or painting, or doing whatever you do. Hard work will pay off one day. Trust me.

The Ominous and the Fortuitous

To see more of Heesco’s work, head over here.

Visit Heesco’s Blog here.

(All images copyright Heesco)

Related articles

• “Mongolian Bling” Doc: Mongolian Hip-Hop Exists, Is Awesome (socialtimes.com)