Casey Gray (b. 1983 Palo Alto, CA) is an contemporary artist working primarily as a painter, but occasionally in other media such as sculpture, graphic design and site-specific murals. His work examines our collective entanglement with the dignity and reality of the everyday, and engages the symbolic potential of objects to tell stories and inform identity. In other words, he uses symbolism to shed light on complex ideas and to make sense of events in and around his life. Themes of leisure, celebration and the search for balance, related to his suburban youth, rebellious spirit and love of nature, are common in his work. Gray often works in serial format, referencing historical painting tropes as a point of departure. His work is characterized by his commitment to aerosol paints and laborious hand cut masking techniques, resulting in a type of skewed realism.
Gray received his MFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2010, and his BA in painting and printmaking from San Diego State University in 2006. He has exhibited extensively across the United States and abroad, and has been published widely both in print and online media. His work hangs proudly in many permanent collections including the deYoung Museum, Stanford University and others. He has lived and worked in San Francisco, California since 2008. His pronouns are He/Him.