Anson Liaw

“I feel I am useless as an artist when I am happy. Pain is what creates my artwork. The painful experiences that people go through as they journey through life in the world around us from childhood to adulthood which in many ways is full of chaos and hardship are what sparks and motivates me to possess my objectives to make purposeful artwork that hopefully generates meaningful and fulfilling empathetic connections to people. As I observe and interpret the world around me combined with creating my artwork, I discover time and time again that true beauty lies within the darkness and that sometimes nightmares are the birthplace of some of the best ideas for an artist.”

Anson Liaw is an American and Canadian, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada-based illustrator and fine artist with extensive experience in illustration art making, drawing for communication and design, and art education.Creating work that take on critical views; both light and heavy about life in the world around us and that deals with social, political, cultural issues and lifestyle subject matter is something he is naturally passionate about.Anson enjoys combining various everyday life objects, scenes and situations from life, memory and imagination, and then combining and fusing them to manufacture new and unexpected yet familiar meanings that ignite a spark to drive discussion and encourage people to be engaged to see, appreciate and learn something new every day about the world around them.Anson’s talent has garnered recognition and accolades from prestigious organizations such as American Illustration, Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA), Applied Arts Magazine, and 3x3, The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration, among others. His illustrations have been featured in renowned publications and exhibitions worldwide, including Lurzer’s Archive and Illustration: A Theoretical and Contextual Perspective, Third Edition by Author, Alan Male, Bloomsbury Visual Arts.Throughout his career, Anson has collaborated with a diverse range of clients, including Time Magazine, McDonald’s, The New York Times, Nestle, and The National Ballet of Canada, to name a few. Additionally, he shares his love and passion for the arts by teaching at OCAD University, nurturing the next generation of creative minds.