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George Miyasaki was born in rural Hawaii to Japanese parents and grew up under martial law during World War II. In 1953 he moved to Oakland, California to study with Richard Diebenkorn and Nathan Oliveira at the California College of Arts & Crafts.

Miyasaki, and numerous other Abstract Expressionist artists of Japanese descent, are only now receiving a portion of the recognition they deserve for the work they created. Remember, Abstract Expressionism reached its apex in the years immediately following World War II, a time of heightened discrimination against the Japanese in America.

Furthermore, with many of these artists working on the West Coast, 3,000 miles from the movement’s epicenter in New York, their significant contributions were overlooked.

In 2017, Miyasaki was included in the important exhibition, Abstract Expressionism: Looking East from the Far West at the Honolulu Museum of Art. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston to name just three.