Cas Maddrey grew up in Maryland, and has since lived in four other states, finally landing in Colorado for good. They take a lot of their inspiration from the natural beauty of the United states. Recently in August of 2024, Cas spent two months travelling the USA in an attempt to see more of that natural beauty. This has resulted in a bit of a shift in how Cas approaches their work these days. Since seeing many parts of this country, Cas has been experimenting with landscape painting, both realistic as well as abstract.

Much of Cas’ art is very emotion-driven. Specifically, their abstract work is an attempt at capturing various emotions they feel as they navigate PTSD. Emotions such as grief, shame, confusion, and love are all very physical sensations for Cas, so their abstract work is an attempt at visualizing how those sensations feel in their body. This is evident both in the colors and shapes Cas chooses, but also in the tedious nature of much of their work, and the time it takes to create such art.

Self portraits and work focused on anatomy are also a major part of the work Cas creates. They use self portraits as a tool of self discovery. Cas is a trans nonbinary individual, and has a unique relationship to gender as a conversion therapy survivor. They use self portraits as a way to visualize who they are and how they fit into this world as they navigate both physical and social transitions. Their other pieces featuring anatomy are explorations of diversity, acceptance, joy, shame, pain, and many other facets of the universally complicated experience that is having a physical form.