The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same
2017
Albion, Michigan
Michael Dixon is an artist working primarily with oil paint. He was born in San Diego, CA, and received his MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder in painting and his BFA from Arizona State University in painting and drawing. Dixon is currently a Professor of Art at Albion College in Michigan. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Joan Mitchell Foundation Emergency Grant, Puffin Foundation Grant, Blanchard Fellowship, and Phi Beta Kappa Scholar of the Year Award. Dixon has completed numerous artist residencies, including the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, Yaddo, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Ragdale Foundation residency. His work has been shown both nationally and internationally at museums, universities, art centers, alternative spaces, and galleries.
Joan Mitchell Center Residency, 2019
As a biracial American, I have often felt that I do not neatly fit into White culture or Black culture, but rather rest in the middle. Exploring this ‘in between’ space has been the main focus of my creative work. I am interested in the value of Black bodies in contemporary America, and aim to locate myself in this discussion as a biracial Black man who has been both the victim of racism and ‘passed’ for white because of my light skin. I use self-portraiture and props to insert myself into a narrative structure.”