In the internet-age of cultural production, collections of mass objects can often stand in for genuine individuality. As images stream in and out of our news feeds, mobile apps, and internet searches, we are granted access to an unprecedented array of content divorced from its context or origin. Individual images become malleable and interchangeable within this visual framework. Casey Gray is interested in how people process and manage this visual overload. He aims to create work that explores and emphasizes the collision of visual experiences inherent to the contemporary landscape, and in the process find a deeper understanding of himself.
Gray’s work is characterized by his commitment to aerosol paint and laborious, hand cut masking techniques resulting in a type of skewed hyper-realism. Through pairing and composing specific content, sourced from both his immediate and online environments, into layered still life arrangements, he is able to form narratives, create identities and discover new truths about the world. He regularly uses historical painting tropes as a point of departure for simultaneous bodies of work, such as cabinets, pin boards and marble ledges. These platforms become a stage for disparate subject matter to mingle, interact and play.