Polina Berlin Gallery is pleased to present Pocketknife, an exhibition of recent paintings by Casey Bolding, on view from May 5 through June 7, 2025.

In this new body of work, the artist continues to elaborate on the complex interior and exterior worlds he explores in his practice. Bolding summons memory and personal ephemera as he paints figures that emerge in vast landscapes or intimate interiors. Across paintings, his mark-making has the looseness and immediacy of a day-long outdoor mural or the tenderness of an articulated portrait.

Bolding's subjects may shift dramatically in scale, moving through a continuum of time and space. He conjures an indeterminate narrative, the way latent memories surface and coalesce and non sequitur thoughts bubble up before becoming more fully formed in the mind. Only time and entropy remain constant, acting as the poetic register of the resulting compositions.

Bolding builds up his surfaces with industrial paint and plaster, later subjecting them to a vigorous process of scraping away, reworking, and reconfiguring. His works are informed by years spent painting and graffiti writing outdoors; in abandoned buildings and decaying freight trains. He excavates imagery on canvas as he would on an empty wall he might happen upon: one that's cracked, sun-bleached, and stained by the elements in a way that seduces.

The title of the exhibition references the humble pocketknife. It's a ubiquitous object that alludes to a rite of passage; one that opens up a world of possibilities to its owner. For Bolding, there is a pleasure in using quotidian materials; cheap flat wall paint and the picked-over acidic-hued aerosols. There is a freedom in taking the leftovers and making them work or repurposing the overlooked thing. There is satisfaction in time's ability to change and undo.

Casey Bolding (b. 1987, Denver, CO) has lived and worked in Brooklyn, New York since 2013. This is his second solo exhibition at the gallery. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Pond Society, Shanghai, Jack Siebert Projects, Los Angeles, Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, Shoot the Lobster, New York, Mamoth, London, and 1969 Gallery, New York.

Casey Bolding (b. 1987, Denver, CO) has lived and worked in Brooklyn, New York since 2013. This is his second solo exhibition at the gallery. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Pond Society, Shanghai, Jack Siebert Projects, Los Angeles, Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, Shoot the Lobster, New York, Mamoth, London, and 1969 Gallery, New York.

Born

• Denver, Colorado, 1987. Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

One-Person Exhibitions

• 2025 Pocketknife, Polina Berlin Gallery, New York (5/5-6/7)

• 2024 The river on top of your head, Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, NY (5/7-6/1)

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2025 That’s Not All, Folks (curated by Liliana Gao), Pond Society, Shanghai, CN (4/4-5/10)
  Modéle Vivant (curated by Jack Siebert), Los Angeles, CA (2/17–2/22)

• 2024 Scotopia (curated by Hugo Alcantara in collaboration with The MENAEA Collection), CABIN, New York, NY (10/25-11/8)
  It just has to wear out, Wshód, New York, NY (4/16-4/20)
  [ahr-kahyv], DEPA Archive, Ghent, BE (5/16-15/5)
  A Gentle Cruise, JVDW Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany, (2/2-3/16)
  Emotional Intelligence II, Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, NY (2/22-3/27)

• 2023 THE SAME ROOM, Shoot the Lobster, New York, NY (12/2/23-1/13/24)

• 2022 Color of Pomegranates, Mamoth, London, UK (6/2-7/22)

• 2019 Routine Malfunction, 1969 Gallery, New York, NY(11/1-11/10)
  all for you (curated by Pat Philips), Catinca Tabacaru, New York, NY (1/11-2/10)

• 2018 Us (curated by David Ai Wang), Ed. Varie, New York, NY (6/28-7/22)

• 2016 30 under 30ish, Victori + MO, Brooklyn, NY (7/8-7/31)

Artforum | Casey Bolding | Must See: Pocketknife