George Lawson was born in 1951 in Miami, and grew up in Salzburg, Munich and Venice, settling in California in 1964. He began painting in 1968 and has exhibited extensively on both coasts and internationally since 1974. His painting and drawing is in public collections, including San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oakland Museum, Hammer Museum, Harvard Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Israel Museum, Bielefeld Kunsthalle, and Malmo Kunsthalle. In the 1980s he designed sets, costumes and lighting for various ballet companies, including Stuttgart Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Oakland Ballet, and others. From 2008 to 2020, he was founder/director of Room For Painting, Room For Paper, and George Lawson Gallery with exhibition spaces in San Francisco, Culver City, West Oakland and Mill Valley. He now lives and works in the Hudson Valley.