“I believe I have found a way to say something about myself in each painting that I do,” Gary McCauley once said. In fact, many of the fantastical subjects in his works are based on personal narratives and concerns, including his memories, family relationships, and aging. His love of jazz also makes its way into his work, in the form of several motifs. Although the human figure is a frequently recurring image in his works, McCauley considers it to be the most challenging subject to depict. His style is characterized by a muted palette, contrasting juxtapositions of sharp contours and soft shading, and the reduction of forms into geometric shapes. Though the artist has a background in illustration, he considers himself largely self-taught.