J. W. Liam Murphy was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1964. He studied art at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario under the tutelage of David Blackwood, graduating in 1983. He completed a four year Diploma at the Ontario College of Art and then went on to Laval University, Quebec City, Canada where he graduated with a Visual Arts degree in 1990.

Liam was inspired in his formative years by the work of Pablo Picasso, Georgia O'Keefe, Andrew Wyeth, Claude Monet, and Mary Pratt.

Liam Murphy is a relatively new name in the art world but his hyper-realistic style is gaining a lot of attention in Canada.

His painting "Alert Chipmunk" was selected for the cover of the 1999 Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters Calendar.

He has shown at the 86th Annual Exhibition at The National Arts Club, New York. Liam is proud to be an associate member of the Allied Artists of America, Inc.

More recently his "YesterYear's Rose" was selected as a Canadian finalist in the Winsor and Newton Worldwide Millennium Painting Competition.

Several of his paintings are part of an interesting group exhibition at the West End Gallery ( Tel: 514-933-4314 ) in Montreal, Quebec.

Island Art Gallery has accepted several paintings which will be exhibited at 1383 Queen Emma Street, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96813 and also at Aloha Tower Marketplace, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96825. For further information, please contact the Manager of Island Art Gallery at Tel: (808)528-4232.

Liam was pleased to have his painting "Rustic Relic" critiqued by Gil Dellinger in the November 2000 issue of The Artist's Magazine. Gil Dellinger is a professor of art at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. He's a signature member of the California Art Club and the Pastel Society of America.