Thedore “Ted” Gordon

b. 1924

Theodore “Ted” Gordon came from a Jewish family of Lithuanian-descent in Louisville, Kentucky. Abandoned by his mother and losing his father to suicide, the young Gordon felt isolated and excluded. At age 26, Gordon moved to San Francisco and worked in hospital administration. In 1954 he began producing “doodle” line drawings on notepaper and continued doodling for another 30 years, by which time his pictures were starting to become recognized as art. His style revolves around lines and spirals, usually taking the form of the human head. Gordon uses colored pens, crayons, markers and pencils to create his images. Compositions are simple, yet striking. The membership of a therapeutic center influenced his work post-1967 with a more expressed emotional meaning behind these later pictures. Gordon’s body of work includes a large number which he describes as self-portraits, with the focus a male head formed of orbiting lines and shapes. He explains that he “becomes” the subject he draws, be it person, fish or bird. Known for his compulsive style, Gordon has produced some 400 drawings. The representational theme of the human face permeates all of his work, but repetition is avoided by his use of endless variations. ¹