Byron Goto was born on July 11 in Hilo, Hawaii in 1919. He worked in oil painting, watercolor, graphic and commercial art, and film. He wrote this biography for Artasiamerica:

"My formal art education started at Woodbury College in Los Angeles in 1941. During the Second World War, I left California and entered the Art Institute of Chicago. There I earned both my Bachelor's and Master's degrees. After receiving my Bachelor's degree, I won a traveling fellowship to study graphic art and poster-making at the Beaux Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland. This was in [1946]—the War had ended and we were about the first students allowed to go abroad. All Europe was on a rationed economy: Switzerland was the least affected, but still severely rationed. The Beaux Art was a traditional school, classes were held with realism as a basis of expression.

"I then moved to Paris where I studied under Andre Lhote and Fernand Leger at their atelier. Paris was exciting. Cubism, surrealism and existential philosophy were dominant ideas at the time. Picasso, Matisse, Leger, Chagall, Ernst, Gromaire, Zadkine were very active then: Leger's atelier and Lhote studio were crowded with students.

"After returning to Chicago and completing my Master's degree at the Art Institute, I worked for Warren Wetherwell Advertising Studio to make my living. While working in Chicago, my work developed into a style evolved from an abstraction of nature influenced by the New York Abstract School of de Kooning and Pollack; geometric forms cut into the picture in a countering effect. I exhibited with the Momentum and the Chicago Artist Shows at the Art Institute. Winning the Martin B. Kahn award in the Institute's prestigious American Show was my first real break.

"The next success came in 1953 when I was invited to show my painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York at their New Talent Exhibit. That year I moved to New York. Living on South Mountain Road, New City, Rockland County, New York, where there was a lively artistic colony—notable members included Henry Varnum Poor, Maxwell Anderson, John Masters, Lotte Lenya Milton Caniff and Herbert Katzman—I lived, raised kids, painted, made movies, and commuted to the city. In New York, I worked first with Comart Studio for a year, then with the American Broadcasting Company for seventeen years, doing various assignments, including art direction for the Winston Churchill Series and the Howard K. Smith News and Analysis program. I did the first Telstar graphic, designed the Company's international logo, and created a light animation which appeared on Times Square and was switched on from Hollywood to publicize the opening of Dick Cavett's network talk show. Also working in the ABC Advertising Department, I illustrated promotional pieces, designed brochures, newspaper ads, logos, and product packages, as well as album covers for ABC-affiliated record companies. In 1971, I returned to free-lance work in design and illustration, and to painting and film work."

Among the collaborative works he notes in his resume is the documentary Black Fox: the Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler by Lou Stoumen, which won an Academy Award; the Winston Churchill and the Howard K. Smith televion series, ABC Studios (art director for animation and graphics); and Soft American by Claes Oldenburg, among others. Goto would later go on to live in Beijing, China, when his wife, Lee, was offered a teaching position there in 1982. They remained there through the late 80s, and Goto frequently traveled throughout China and Tibet, sketching the daily lives of those he came across. These ink sketches he would sometimes mail to his friend, the photographer and documentarian Lou Stoumen.

Byron Goto died in New York City on April 8, 2012.

Selected Exhibitions:
1947: Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM
1949: Ohio Valley Invitational, Vienna, WV
1950: Chicago & Vicinity Exhibition
1952: Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), IL; American Artists Exhibition, AIC; Milwaukee Art Institute, Milwaukee, WI
1953: Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1954/'55: Whitney Museum - Annual, New York, NY
1956/'58: John Heller Gallery, New York, NY
1957: Brooklyn International - Brooklyn Museum, NY
1960: Rockland Foundation of the Arts, Spring Valley, NY
1961: Zabriskie Gallery, New York, NY
1962: Salute to New York, Albany, NY
1970: Bertrand Russell Peace Exhibition, London, England
1971: Honolulu Contemporary Arts Gallery, Honolulu, HI
1975/'77: Azuma Gallery (group show), Seattle, WA
1978: Washington World Gallery, Georgetown, NW
1984/'89: Grace Gallery, Beijing, China
1998: Chelsea Studio Gallery, New York, NY
N.D.: Icarus International, Guadalajara, Mexico; American Ebassy, Beijing, China

Awards:
Anna Louise Traveling Scholarship, Art Institute of Chicago
Martin B. Kahn Prize, Art Institute of Chicago 
Distinguished Award, N.Y. Art Director's Club
Distinguished Award, Philadelphia Ad Club
Purchase Award in Experimental Film for "Bearded Snow," Michigan Film Festival