In February 2016, Choisi displays William Cobbing’s video The Kiss (2004) from the collection of Artphilein Foundation.

In The Kiss, the artist proposes one of his recurring themes, heads immersed in a shifting mass of clay, with arms and hands free to move. The concealing of the faces, probably referred to the pixilation that newsroom editors employ to protect speakers’ identities, does not allow to understand the facial expressions of the two actors.

The title The Kiss causes the viewer to catch a glimpse of tenderness in the movements, but their gestures could also have other meanings, such as attempts of prevarication, of submission, of a desire to remain separate and to withdraw. By using clay the artist draws from the imaginary of man’s creation of the Sumerian mythology, of the Golem, of Frankenstein by James Whale. The multiplicity of the possible interpretations of The Kiss, with its potential conflicting meanings, enrols itself in the researches of Artphilein Foundation on the ambiguity of language and gestures.

William Cobbing was born in 1974 in London, where he lives and works. Starting from a specific interest in sculpture, he works with different media, such as video, installation and performance. He studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design and held a PHD in Fine Art by Practice at Middlesex University in London. He attended De Ateliers International Artists’ Institute, Amsterdam. In 2009-10 he was artist in residence at Turquoise Mountain Foundation, Kabul. Among his solo shows: Viafarini DOCVA, Milano (2010); Camden Arts Centre, Londra (2008); TENT, Rotterdam (2005).