This artist talk is in association with the Yes &… exhibition on view at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, January 29 - May 3, 2026. William Cobbing is a featured artist in the show guest curated by Tobias Fike & Donald Fodness.
 

About the Exhibition: Rooted in improvisational theater, “Yes, And” is a phrase that embodies an ethos of acceptance and addition. The concept resonates with many contemporary visual artists who emphasize intuition, improvisation, and process. Drawing on this approach, Yes &... brings together an eclectic mix of styles and aesthetics from 18 artists united by their human-centered focus and perspective.

About William Cobbing: Starting from a sculptural sensibility, Cobbing’s art practice encompasses a diverse range of media, including video and installation. Performative encounters are devised with material, such as clay, in which the protagonists are engaged in a repetitive and absurd cycle of manipulating formless surfaces. The works allude to concepts of entropy, underlining the extent to which earthly material is irreversibly dispersed, giving rise to a definitive blurring of the boundaries between the body and landscape, whilst putting the possibility of conclusion on hold.

William Cobbing studied sculpture at Central St Martins, De Ateliers, an artists’ institute in Amsterdam and a PhD by Practice at Middlesex University. 

This talk is generously supported by the Roser Visiting Artist Program at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Portrait photo credit: Doug Gillen