The Illustrative Art Portfolio of Reed Dixon
Reed Dixon was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and worked as a commercial illustrator and designer for a time before opening his own studio. In his current practice, Reed utilizes a variable, illustrative style to produce a prolific array of works.
Impact, mixed media and gold leaf on canvas
It’s interesting to see the variety of different styles that Reed plays with in his current portfolio. In terms of subject matter, paintings range from classic florals, to pop art, to landscapes, to bright, lovingly-painted images of kitchen appliances. In some works, Reed uses novel media such as acrylic on plexiglass -- something like the work of fellow painter Jordan Dunlop.
As we saw in our previous feature of Reed’s bright, poppy styles, the artist does a great job of switching between different styles and creating aesthetics to fit not only the subject matter of a piece, but it’s overall tone. In his floral gallery, for example, Reed switches easily between a more realistic rendering of various blossoms, and a wilder, expressionist style built up from splattered paint and densely textured fields of colour.
