Hi Heesco, how’s it going?
I'm doing great. actually a little thirsty.

K. If you had to describe your work to a stranger who had never seen any of your illustartions what would you say?

H.Haha, it's a hard question. I do kind of dark and depressing drawings and paintings. mostly black and white. a lot of cross hatching. and i'm a little bit obsessed with details, i think. i usually just give people my website address and try and avoid describing my stuff, haha. i think i come across as a happy dude in person when i meet people, and then i show them my artworks and they start looking at me funny as if they're thinking "what's wrong with this guy?!". i am a fairly happy person, who just happens to love drawing weird and disturbing stuff. it's not abnormal right?

K. How long have you lived in Sydney for and what brought you here?

H. I've lived in sydney for about 10 years now. I came here to study international business. it was an advanced diploma course but i got out of it with just diploma cos i failed accounting twice (the guy who taught accounting was the most dull and depressed dude ever). after that i went to sydney college of the arts and studied painting and printmedia for 3 years. the uni campus used to be a mental asylum. it was great.

K. What or who inspires your work?

H. i get inspired by music more than anything else. i love music. it's like the best motivational tool for me. if i feel uninspired and lazy i'd put something like Psycroptic on, and it's like a good slap in the face, gets me energised and ready to tackle anything. and also i grew up on comic books, which is another major influence. i used to copy jim lee and simon bisley panels line by line. and then trade it off to classmates for new issues of comics, haha. i was a little hustler. i didn't get much western fine art influence while in mongolia early on though, because everything was communist propaganda and social realism, which used to bore the shit out of me. i went to poland with my mum when i was 12 and spent about 2 years, and i got into heavy metal and comic books and surrealist paintings. afterwards, when i started art school in sydney i had a lot of catching up to do art history-wise, cos all my knowledge was based on marvel and DC comics, and mtv and beavis and butthead, haha.

K. Your illustration Mr Dembrel that you created for Koast is so epic, where did he originate from?

H. i draw monsters with angry and wrinkly faces quite a bit, kind of out of habit, and when i got asked to create a monster, i couldn't believe it! i just get fascinated with the folds of the skin and the expression, and i'd work the piece until there's not much to add, really. and i used ballpoint pen, which i love, but it's a pretty draining process. you can get real fine details with it, but building tones gradually line by line can take forever, and often takes its toll on my arm as well. but, the outcome is always surprising. it's worth the pain, haha. i wanted to create something that would grab the eye from the first glance, it's very in-your-face.

K. What project are you currently working on?

H. I'm working towards a show at Somedays Gallery, which opens on 14th of october. it's a solo one, so i got a lot of stuff to finish off and get ready. it's called "Souls End", and i'm putting in a few paintings, and some new drawings, and also i'm making around 7 little lightboxes. all mostly black and white drawings of old and wrinkly people, some with showerheads sticking out of their heads and stuff. and i got hold of a 4 metre by 1 metre ad poster, which has these sexy girls in rollerblades. i'm gonna work on it and change them into one of my 'ugly face' artworks, haha. fun!

K. Lastly when we talked last you mentioned you are now a proud owner of a pub in Mongolia, where about’s and when can we go snowboarding over there and visit for a beer?

H. haha, yeah. it's called Lucky-13. it's right smack in the middle of the city. a real good location. and it's going pretty well. i got 2 best mates back home, Uugii and Bil. we always talked about doing something together, and when i went back this time, we decided to buy a sports bar. it was a good offer. Uugii's looking after the business mainly. he's a rockstar in mongolia, he hosts local live music festival called Playtime, a 2 day mongolian woodstock, hehe. when i first met him he used to front the first mongolian death metal band called Mortus. and Bil's an Etonian, according to him he spent some time in hospital with prince William playing uno together. Bil was in hospital having had his both wrist bones broken playing basketball. They're great guys. I'm more of a silent partner. We can go snowboarding there anytime! it gets really cold there in winter, i'm talking like -30C and lots of snow. and i'll shout drinks!

Thanks Heesco, we are going to take you up on that!