Casey Gray is in the house! We’re all enjoying his company and quirkiness as he puts up his bright, jovial, and captivating pieces!

The show this Saturday, July 10th, from 7:00-11:00 pm will be an event you do not want to miss!

Check out this interview to get a deeper insight on the technique, temperatures, and tasteful tactics of the infamous Casey Gray.

1.  You use the phrase “turmoil of the human heart” to describe the symbolism your artwork aims to explore and deconstruct.  In thinking about this phrase, how do you personally connect with your work?

The phrase “turmoil of the human heart” refers to the struggle of finding balance and harmony within the complexities of day-to-day life. The imagery I use is all connected and related to my personal experience. I was once told that the definition of art is the organization of experience, and every day I wake up believing more and more that my artwork is a testament to that.

2.  What kinds of experiences do you draw upon as a source of inspiration for your artwork?

In the last year my work has changed dramatically and has more to do with interpreting the American Dream than anything else. Symbols of success, wealth and romance are engrained in our minds.  Most of the information that builds our sense of direction and moral code as children comes from mass media.  Images of splendor are sold to us as a substitute for experience and its only as we grow up that we realize their exaggeration.  My paintings are based off these versions of the so-called truth. They are romantic visions of the American dreamscape.

3.  In works that feature explicit romantic imagery, what sort of critique do you aim to make upon normative presumptions of gender and sexuality in society?

Rather than critique, I am questioning the entire notion of what constitutes “normative presumptions”. It is my understanding that there is no normal when it comes to sex and gender. I don’t feel like there is anything shocking about the sexuality of my work, nor am I trying to be shocking. I’m interested in the line where masculine and feminine meet. Some of my paintings for the show feature classic archetype male figures such as Gene Kelly, Paul Newman and Fred Astaire. To me they are iconic representations of American splendor. But, when you subvert their remembrance, their meaning becomes something new and that’s where things start to become interesting. I liked horses as a kid.  I had a few My Little Ponies.  I also had Tonka trucks, dinosaurs and Playboys.  I’m not trying to tell people what to think, nor am I taking any sort of stance one way or the other.  I simply want to bring up these issues as a place for social discourse.

4.  Who was your childhood icon? How has this person influenced your artwork?

When I was real young I wanted to be a pro soccer player just like my older brother Kelly. Actually, as a kid he was probably my biggest influence. He introduced me to skateboarding at a real young age, too. I wanted to be just like him until I realized that I didn’t anymore. He and my younger brother Cody are still my biggest supporters, along with my parents of course. The other person would have to be my grandfather.  He used to design ads for this supermarket chain in New Hampshire. This was before computers. I would sit and watch as he made these ads, cutting out text and images with an Exacto knife and a straight edge. He also absolutely loved spray paint and was the person who introduced me to it back when I was like six or eight. He would spray paint anything he could get his hands on. It wasn’t a conscience choice for me to use these materials because of him, but in hindsight his role in my work seems obvious. I really miss him.

5.  Do you begin a new piece with the finished product in mind, or does your conceptual process develop in conjunction with the development of your artistic process of layering?

For each piece I start with an idea, whether its a feeling or a particular image I want to work around such as a figure, and I cut out a group of stencils that I feel are connected to that idea in some way, shape or form.  For most paintings, I try to use an entirely new bank of stencils but naturally some get carried over to other works. The next step is to organize them in a way that completes or narrates my concept.  A lot of the time I will start a painting with one idea in mind but by the time I’m finished, it’s a completely different piece than I set out to make. Things get painted over and colors change. When I can’t think of anything else that could possibly add to the painting in any way, then I know its finished. So yes, the layering process definitely allows individual concepts to grow and morph over time.  Every image put down is a new level of investigation.

6.  You live in a pretty unique space for San Francisco; care to tell us about it?

Yea, for sure. I live in an approximately 20k square foot warehouse in the Dogpatch neighborhood that my roommate’s step-dad owns. It’s amazing. I have the luxury of having two studios, one for cutting and one for painting, a full recording studio and a full wood shop in my home. It’s pretty ideal. It actually used to be the band Journey’s old warehouse and recording studio like decades ago. When we moved in there were still Billboard awards on the desks and tons of memorabilia lying around. The Grateful Dead used to record here and bands like Jefferson Airplane and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Now my roommates who are music producers took over the recording studio. They’re called Pance Party and they make really sweaty, melodic electro house and its really, really good. The whole history of the building and creative energy that it has is a huge influence on my work.

7.  Your work comments on the juxtaposition between desire and repulsion.  How do you utilize your medium to similarly comment on this relationship?  Does your use of layering speak to this?

Attraction and repulsion are key elements to my work, literally and metaphorically. In some ways my process is similar to that of abstract expressionism but in other ways has more to do with printmaking and collage. I take an image that I’ve found or photographed that I’m attracted to.  I cut it out, spray it on the canvas and react to it until I’ve achieved the feeling I set out for. Sometimes this means adding more layers and sometimes it means painting things out. I usually start with a solid background color and make decisions based on how that color makes me feel. Some paintings or images may change color three or four times before I’m satisfied visually and formally.

8.  Any words of wisdom to extend to your followers?

There is a light that never goes out.

9.  As much of your artwork is sexually charged, do you strive to express an overarching message within the “Ill Romantic” collection?

I have never been a believer in the idea that art had to portray some sort of ‘message’.

Life is supposed to be fun. More importantly, art is supposed to be fun, and if you want to make a painting of an asshole, its okay to make a painting of an asshole.

10.  Over the past year your stencil work has become increasingly intricate.  How does the addition of complex patterns add to the overall finished piece?

Conceptually, the idea of the pattern is something that I’m very interested in and has increasingly become more important to my work. Pattern can be used for devaluation or for glorification. Specifically, I’m interested in how repetition effects the interpretation of an image. The patterns I create with imagery work to transform the literal meaning of each symbol, while the baroque wallpaper patterning is a reference to the domestic and the extravagant decoration of our culture.

11.  Do you have any rituals? Meaning, do you wear the same shirt when you  paint, eat the same breakfast, chew the same kind of gum, never step on the  cracks in the sidewalk, etc… Any superstitions that add to your rituals?

There usually are a couple Mickey’s tall cans within reaching distance, that’s for sure.  Also, I always have some sort of progressive house or electro house music blaring while I  paint. It’s sort of a one-man dance party in there.

12.  What is your favorite piece in the collection? Why? Which do you think  will be the post popular? Why?

I’m not sure I have a favorite piece actually.  Every piece I make ends up being my favorite  until I make a new one. I imagine that the giant 8 x 16 foot piece will probably be a crowd  pleaser because of its shear size, bright colors and how mesmerizing it is. It also has hot  dogs and hamburgers in it which everyone loves I think. It’s called Good Times USA! and  it makes me feel like barbecuing.

13.  How did you envision your first solo show to be? Does this live up to that dream?

I just imagined it being really colorful. My work has changed so much over the last couple years that there is no way I could have imagined it looking the way it does today. But I’m stoked on it, that’s for sure.

14.  In various pieces you reference the idea of public space as a site of sexuality. Bringing the artwork into the gallery space, again, touches on this ideology.  Can you elaborate on this?

It’s a feeling of adventure, excitement, the potential for heroic achievement, and the exotic.  I’m hard pressed to imagine something sexier than a beautiful painting?

15.  What artist has influenced your art, or your perception of art, the most?

Lari Pittman is my favorite artist of all time.

16.  You’re from San Jose, which is surrounded by the hub of technology that is Silicon Valley. How do you think this has influenced you as an artist?

If the tech industry had any influence on me, it was on my skateboarding, not my artwork. You have to realize all those places are virtually deserted on the weekends, which meant we could skate without getting the boot. I only lived there until I was eighteen and at that time, I had made a few stencils but I didn’t really know what type of art I was making yet. I was mostly doing photography and video with painting taking a back seat to everything else. It wasn’t until I left San Jose that I really got serious about my art.