Liam Cassidy

As a cartoonist, Liam Cassidy draws inspiration from a wide swath of visual culture. His style of cartooning is closely tied to the loosely expressive early comics of Matt Groening, yet it is equally influenced by the tight pen work and complex narratives of Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns. He has a deep appreciation of the slapstick brilliance of Looney Tunes, just as he admires the raw painterly work of Philip Guston and Grace Hartigan. In his comics, you will recognize characters from local commercials and scenery from around St. Louis. He often borrows typefaces from highway signage or print advertising picked up at the Metro station. 

Cassidy wants his comics to be populated by characters that feel real, even if they live in a futuristic city run by aloof robots or if their heads explode in a shower of streamers and sparks. The faces he draws often come from people he meets or passes by in the grocery store. Creating authentic characters requires empathy — understanding rather than merely mocking, even when they appear to be deeply flawed. 

Comedy is central to Cassidy’s comics. As the son of Irish immigrants, he inherited their rosy-cheeked brand of fatalism. But he was also raised with the particularly Irish mindset that a good joke can act as a cure-all in times of tragedy. He grew up with unmitigated access to comedy. Some may see his childhood as a case study in overexposure to adult content, but he learned early on how to use humor as a tool to excavate joy from pain. Comedy is often derided in artmaking, with the artist’s intention questioned, as it’s assumed they are not serious about the subject. However, there is truth in the laughable. It’s absurdity that Cassidy take most seriously as an artist.