San Antonio, Texas. ART Magazine.
If you missed UTSA’s MFA Thesis Exhibition, tomorrow you get a last chance to see it. UTSA Satellite Space features numerous distinguished pieces by graduating artists Joe Harjo in “Indians for Sale” and Mat Kubo’s “It’s All Going Back”.
“It’s All Going Back” explores interactions with store-bought objects. Working in photography, video, and performance, the artist dissects the phenomena of consumerism and property. Even though there are many techniques and media involved, in “It’s All Going Back”, these tend to overlap. Throughout the series, regardless of the medium, there is an interesting conversation developing far beyond the gallery and the finished work.
Mat Kubo buys different objects to be used in the exhibition: a TV , a drill, or a karaoke house, and then returns them after the show. “All the items are returned with my contact information, a link to my YouTube page, and A DVD with video of me using the object if that fits in the packaging. I don’t feel like I’m breaking the system, I am just working within it. I’m working totally within their stated refund policies. Just inserting a dialogue both physically and metaphorically”, said Kubo. Mat’s work gently mocks consumer culture and questions our relationship to retail objects by a thorough documentation of the returns. However, Mat’s pieces do not end with the video playing at the gallery or his installation of highlighted receipts, the fact that he is working behind the process: going to the store, buying items, and then returning them, creates an ongoing performance piece of which the viewer is made aware of.
Tomorrow UTSA MFA Thesis Exhibition will have a closing party at UTSA Satellite Space at 5 pm. For more information click here.
