GEOFFREY NILSON
  • Home
  • About
  • CV
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • pagefiftyone
  • Home
  • About
  • CV
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • pagefiftyone

everything and more: Coupland @ VANCOUVER ART GALLERY

8/13/2014

1 Comment

 
PictureBrilliant Information Overload Pop Head
Most people know Douglas Coupland for his language. The Vancouver based writer and artist is the author of over twenty books of fiction and non-fiction, his first and possibly most well known, Generation X: Tales from an Accelerated Culture, defined a generation of slacker youth engrossed with pop-culture and meaningless McJobs.

It was fitting then that Coupland dedicated one claustrophobic nook in his new solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery, everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything, to his books. His work is acutely aware of history while defiantly looking toward the future.

Collecting artworks from the past fourteen years with over 100 on display in a variety of mediums including installation, painting, photography, prints, sculpture, and furniture, the exhibition explores themes around technology, cultural identity, and how we live in the 21st century. Coupland uses his talent for accessibility by meshing big ideas and a healthy dose of humour.

In an interview with CBC, Coupland said about his artistic work, that he is “living in both time and space. Writing exists in time and art exists in space.” Approaching middle age with a greying yet full beard, Coupland still effortlessly embodies theoretical futurism with a wink and smirk.

The sheer number of objects in the show is immediately apparent and overwhelming. Greeted by a wall of more than 300 pieces from plastic building kits arranged in horizontal lines, the first few rooms are overflowing with items, from a small pile of Hawkins Cheezies on a plywood shelf, to debris from the Fukushima nuclear disaster that washed ashore in Haida Gwaii.

“Douglas Coupland’s work sheds light on subjects as varied as the distinct nature of Canadian identity, the rise of utopian ideas, the power of words, the presence of digital technologies, the significance of the everyday, and the unshakeable nature of one’s own constitution—ideas that Coupland examines with both optimism and some trepidation.” said Daina Augaitis, Vancouver Art Gallery’s Chief Curator/Associate Director.

Picture
Slogans for the 21st Century
Slogans for the 21st Century, 172 brightly coloured meme-like aphorisms that speak in the irreverent zeitgeist of Internet language, surrounds viewers on all sides, the panels covering the walls from floor to ceiling. “The future feels like homework,” one says. “Real time often feels like neither,” says another. One becomes caught in the bluntness of it all, not sure whether to laugh or cry.

What is most surprising (yet shouldn’t be to those who have read his books) is the diversity of the material in everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything. While the funny and charismatic Coupland is a large part of the show, there is a darker vision of the present and future that is also expressed throughout. The twisted steel form of a high voltage tower in The Ice Storm and the paint-obscured faces of Brilliant Information Overload Pop Head express a chaos that runs through the heart of modern life.
PictureThe Ice Storm
“Marking the first solo museum exhibition dedicated to the art of one of the most thought-provoking artists working today, everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything reflects the Gallery’s strong commitment to provide a global platform for local artists,” said Kathleen S. Bartels, Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. “We are thrilled to be the first museum to present this survey of Coupland’s work and hope this exhibition will inspire audiences of all backgrounds and generations to consider what defines contemporary Canadian culture.”

Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything and Gumhead run until September 1, 2014 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. 

Picture
The Brain
Picture
Gumhead
1 Comment

    Categories

    All
    35mm
    Above / Ground Press
    Ambient
    Animation
    Anvil Press
    Art
    Black & White
    Books
    BpNichol
    Brian Eno
    Brick Books
    Brock University
    Canada
    Chapbooks
    Coach House
    Criticism
    David Foster Wallace
    Electronics
    Essay
    Etching
    Evelyn Lambert
    Exhibition
    Film
    Form
    Fourteen Points
    Fraser River
    Germany
    GY!BE
    Himatic AF2
    History
    Holga
    HP5 400
    Idea
    Ilford
    John Cage
    Kevin Spenst
    Laurie Anderson
    Linocut
    Live
    Minolta
    Modular
    Mounties
    Mpc
    Music
    Navy
    New Westminster
    Non Fiction
    Norman Mclaren
    Painting
    Paris 1919
    Photography
    Pictures
    Poetry
    Printmaking
    Quote
    Reading
    Review
    Screenprinting
    Sculpture
    Small Press
    Song
    Sonnet
    Surrey
    Synthesizer
    Talonbooks
    Telecaster
    The Georgia Straight
    TISH
    Vancouver
    Video
    Vinyl
    Vispo
    Warp Records
    Woodrow Wilson
    Writing
    Ww1

    Archives

    May 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    April 2020
    September 2019
    November 2018
    February 2018
    September 2017
    March 2017
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    August 2013
    May 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.