Liaw, Anson

Anson Liaw is a Canadian and American, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada based illustrator and fine artist. Upon graduating from the Ontario College of Art from the Communication & Design Department Design Advertising Program, his versatile illustrations have been an integral part of many projects ranging from magazines, book publications, corporate, packaging and advertising communications.

His illustrations 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.

He enjoys combining various everyday life objects, scenes and situations from life, memory and imagination and then combines and fuses them together to manufacture new and unexpected yet familiar meaning that ignites a spark to drive discussion and encourages people to be engaged to see, appreciate and learn something new every day about the world around them.

His work is strong conceptually, and is known for its graphic yet painterly qualities.

He has garnered recognition and awards for his illustration work from American Illustration, Society of Illustrators West (SILA), Applied Arts Magazine, Applied Arts Photography & Illustration Awards Annuals, Applied Arts Design & Advertising Awards Annuals, COUPE International Design & Image Competition, Kenneth R. Wilson (KRW) Awards by the Canadian Business Press, 3x3, The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration, 3x3 Pro Show Illustration Awards Annual, The Creative Quarterly, the Luerzer’s ARCHIVE “200 Best Illustrators” and "200 Best Digital Artists" Worldwide Special Editions and COW International Design Festival ILLUSTRATION exhibition & event.

Some of his clients have included Time Magazine, McDonald’s, Fedex, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Nestle, Nortel Networks, Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Morning News, Mortgage Banking Magazine, The Harvard Business Review, The Houghton Mifflin Company, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Beatrice, Loblaws Branding Ltd., Second Cup Coffee Company, Canadian Business, Rogers Media, Mercatto restaurant, Eugene Levy The New School New York City, Simon & Schuster New York, The OPC Register, Education Forum, Registered Nurse Journal, University of Toronto, 3x3 The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, John Wiley & Sons Publishing, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, The Washington Post, Heart & Soul Magazine, Out Magazine, Report on Business Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, CIO Canada, CIO USA, New Scientist, SOCAN, H2O 4 ALL, Profit Magazine, University at Buffalo, Fraser Paper, More Magazine USA, Strathmore, Arthritis Today Magazine, OHS Canada, The National Ballet of Canada, Frangelico Liqueur, Storage Magazine, Bank of Montreal, Scotiabank, Holt Renfrew, Swiss Chalet, Canadian Lawyer, American Lawyer, American Bar Association, McMurry Publishing, Saveur Magazine, BeE Magazine, Negarestan Magazine, Currents Magazine, Reform Judaism Magazine and American Humanist Association to name a few.

Anson shares his love and passion for the communication and design arts by teaching at OCAD University and Virtute Innovation Academy in Canada.

"What I expect from any work of art is that it surprises me, that it violates my customary valuations of things and offers me other, unexpected ones."

- Jean Dubuffet