Today we’d like to introduce you to Mat Kubo.
Mat, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I am from Honolulu, Hawai’i. I love that place. A lot. It’s way too expensive to be an artist there. It’s expensive in general, don’t move there. I am in a self-imposed exile. I have lived on the West and East Coast, and currently, am having a good time in Houston. I am third and fourth generation Japanese (American), I speak Hawai’i Creole English, American English, some Japanese, and some Spanglish (by way of South Texas).
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I got my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. I got my start in sculpture. I have had bodies of work in bronze, steel, and wood. At the same time, I had been interested in incorporating sound in my work and during my thesis year, I would attend workshops in the music department. After completion of my degree, I worked on sound performances, installation art, guerilla campaigns, performances, and public gatherings where I shared meals with people I met on Craigslist.
I moved to San Antonio in 2009 and attended the University of Texas at San Antonio, where I completed my Master of Fine Arts Degree in 2012. At this point of my artmaking life, I did not have a dedicated studio practice; my tools mostly involved my laptop, phone, and notebook. My artwork creation took place mostly outside in the public, where I was interacting with people. San Antonio was a new, exciting, and foreign city to me, and part of my practice was navigating my new place of residence. For one series, I met strangers at malls and took “family portraits” with willing strangers at JC Penny. And on another, I recorded inspirational messages popular on Facebook circa 2010 on analogue cassette tapes. I walked around San Antonio on foot, played the message to folks I met on the street and in stores, gave them the cassette tape, and took a photo with them.
I don’t have a dedicated studio practice as a result of the subject matter that I’m interested in. My workspace is three dedicated work desks in my apartment, for reviewing, framing, and packing/unpacking artwork. My current and ongoing series, “Shadows Whispers Transfers Pulls”, consists of rubbings and frottages of locations of “historical importance”, be it personal or larger community. These rubbings are graphite on paper, pulled from locations in Houston, San Antonio, Galveston, and Honolulu. These include historical plaques, brickwork, monuments, and names and dates inscribed in wet concrete.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
For me, success is making what you want for the reasons that you want. I have never been interested in making commercial work. I complete bodies of work and projects, and sometimes when I’m asked to repeat them, I often decline if I am past that point in whatever problem I had been trying to solve. I am very much dedicated to my work, no matter what sacrifices need to be made to a particular project. I am always open to learning new materials and ways of working, all media to me is a systematic approach to illustrating a particular problem that I scratch at. Artists question and can’t often provide answers; we highlight and bracket off particular issues for examination and work within the larger context, and in doing so can be a part of how our current history is encoded.
“Essential to success as an artist” is being satisfied and one with your work. Success is an ongoing, lifelong project. It’s continual growth as a human being.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Most things I’m working on is on Instagram: @matkubo I post regularly, and love posting time-lapses when I can justify it.
Facebook: matkubo
Message me on either of those platforms and I will respond. Connecting with people through my work is the best part of my work.
My website needs some updating, but you can find me at: matkubo.com.
I have just wrapped up exhibiting some of my work for the Honolulu Biennial 2019. This exhibition ran from March to May 2019, and I was able to show a good amount of the entire series of “Shadows Whispers Transfers Pulls” that I had mentioned earlier. It was absolutely amazing to be able to show work back home, and to be able to be amongst some incredible international artists.
Contact Info:
- Website: matkubo.com
- Phone: 808.554.3615
- Email: matkubo@gmail.com
- Instagram: matkubo
- Facebook: matkubo
- Twitter: matkubo
Image Credit:
Mat Kubo
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