Ismail Awi was born in 1987, in Terengganu. He is a Malaysian artist who graduated from UiTM, Shah Alam in 2010. His passion for painting has been in him ever since he first held a brush. His work connects various messages which he cleverly portrays in his artwork. Since he was a child, cartoons, comic books and novels had been the companion of his life. The collections of various and different genres made him being in his own fantasy world. The life as a village boy (my father was a fisherman, and we lived a middle class life) then later moved to the city, had given him so many experiences and views on life. People’s attitude, experiences that were told, are somehow like creating, expanding the fantasy world of mine. All of these, under the looming threat of nuclear annihilation. He was a nervous, high -strung child and his mind was filled with a constantly shifting and swirling vortex of imagery in unnatural juxtapositions and combinations, pretty much the very definition of the word 'surrealism’. His works also express the struggle of life and how those hardships and burdens can either inspire us to change in a constructive way or weigh us down by our own inability to change. Like any artist of worth, it took many long years of struggle and research along with trial and error as constant as honing of technique to reach the point where he felt he had created a language which, when spoken well, would command some semblance of purpose. He works in what is best described as a surreal style but filtered through the mind and eyes of what is for better or worse, uniquely Malaysian. He has been participating in various art exhibition like; Forms of Diversity; Group Exhibition at Redbase Foundation (2018), Charity art show, Alam Impian Gallery, Malaysia (2016), Affordable Art fair, Singapore (2015), Art Expo Malaysia Plus 2015, represented by Segaris Art Centre, Malaysia (2015), Discover Malaysia Art 2014 , Arts Kuala Lumpur-Melbourne, SPACE@COLLINS, Melbourne (2014), and many more.