Ted Dixon pursues abstract painting to explore what is not immediately visible. His own words frame a core inquiry: “How do we learn to see what we cannot yet see? What are the things that influence our ability to perceive?” His abstract compositions are shaped by personal experiences, a study of moments in time that are inseparably tied to certain feelings and meanings. As a Black American artist, he views his work as a vehicle to enhance and widen the dialogue among all people, inviting viewers into a shared field of contemplation rather than into segregated or singular readings of image and form.
Dixon’s paintings can be described as abstract compositions influenced by personal experiences and efforts to capture moments in time. When working in the studio, he attempts to capture moments in time that are connected to certain feelings and meanings. He has a particular interest in what enables and stimulates artistic expression. “How do we learn to see what we cannot yet see? What are the things that influence our ability to perceive?” His goal is to create images that speak to a point in time that someone will embrace, be moved by and cannot live without.
Ted Dixon’s narrative is situated within today’s world of visual and verbal overload, suggesting that restraint can open a clearer pathway for meaning. The result is a viewer experience that feels like a journey across the painted surface, moving toward clarity rather than distraction. Dixon hopes observers will encounter what he calls “abstract sensations” — moments of quiet, serenity, restlessness, or tension—that linger after the eyes have moved on. The goal is to create images that speak to a point in time someone will embrace, be moved by, and perhaps find indispensable to their own sense of meaning.
Before dedicating himself full-time to making art, Ted Dixon spent more than two decades as a graphic and Web designer. This background in visual communication informs the precision and clarity he seeks in his paintings, even as the process remains intimate and exploratory. His career shift underscores a commitment to a practice that is both disciplined and expansive, allowing him to devote attention to painting in a way that speaks from the core of his experience.
Dixon’s exhibitions have spanned a broad range of spaces in the Northeast, including Montgomery Row Art Space in Rhinebeck, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, ADS Gallery, the Arts Society of Kingston, Olive Free Library, Albany Center Gallery, Susan Eley Fine Arts, Mattutuck Museum, and Arts Mid-Hudson with forthcoming 2026 solo exhibits in Saugerties NY, Troy NY, and Woodstock NY. These venues reflect a regional dialogue about abstraction that is as diverse as the Hudson Valley itself.
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