Under Water

George Miyasaki

George Miyasaki was around 21 years old when he did this Abstract Expressionist color screenprint at the California College of Arts and Crafts where he started in a lithography class taught by Leon Goldin, and then with Nathan Oliveira, as well as studying painting with Richard Diebenkorn.

The young artist, who was fascinated by the chemistry of printmaking, had learned lithography using Leon Goldin's method of painting the stone with asphaltum and using a single counter-etched stone.

David Acton explains Miyasaki's lithography process in "The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionist Prints" on page 160:

"He drew with a brush and a solution of powdered asphaltum mixed with grease and cleaning solvents, according to his own recipes. When the first improvisational drawing was complete, he inked and printed the stone in the conventional manner, pulling all the impressions for a projected edition in a single color. Then the artist washed the printing surface with acetic acid, chemically defacing the stone and negating its ability to hold ink. The image remained as a shadow to be used as a guide for the next layer of imagery, printed in a different color. Each layer of color evolved from the one before it, and the artist made all decisions about design and color during the preparation of the stone and its printing."

Miyasaki applied many of the the same techniques to his screenprinting, building many layers of colors, light over dark, on the same screen to create "Under Water." Like all of his work from that period, the editions were small and varied in color.