Gordon graduated from the San Francisco State University in 1961. He worked as a file clerk in the Radiology Laboratory of the Wodsworth, Virginia Hospital.

He started his compulsive line drawing, what he called “doodles”, probably in the 1950’s. In 1981 he saw two art books and realized his “doodles” might be art. He sent pictures to Roger Cardinal, the creator of the term “outsider art”, and to Michel Theroz, the curator of the Collection de l’Art Brut, Lauzanne, Switzerland. Gordon’s work is in their permanent collection.

Gordon does endless portraits with his bold strokes and spirals. On close examination they are both similar and very different. The energy radiates. He constantly seeks recognition for his work, though he is a solitary person. He sent many works to the American Visionary Are Museum in Baltimore when he learned of their plans to have a permanent museum.