Douglas
Coupland

Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything is the first major museum exhibition of the artist’s work and will be presented at the Vancouver Art Gallery from May 31 – September 1, 2014. Deftly capturing the spirit of the age—or, as the artist refers to it, “the 21^st century condition”—Douglas Coupland’s ideas are often encountered on the written page. But the themes he explores in his writing have appeared in his artwork as early as the 1980s when he was a student at the Emily Carr College of Art & Design. In this survey of Coupland’s work, we encounter his incisive social analysis in a variety of forms including installation, painting, photography, prints, sculpture, quilts and wallpaper. His synthesis of contemporary events, popular culture, new technologies and art historical references―that range from the paintings of Emily Carr and the Group of Seven to the Pop sensibility of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein―resists an identifiable style. By incorporating everyday materials and objects and referencing images that have become culturally iconic, he probes the way that things, images and processes of contemporary life affect our understanding of the world around us.

This exhibition brings together works made since the early 2000s as well as major new installations created specifically for this presentation. It sheds light on subjects as varied as the distinct nature of Canadian identity, the rise of utopian ideas, the power of words, the ubiquitous presence of digital technologies, the emerging culture of fear and the unshakeable nature of one’s own constitution—ideas that Coupland examines with both optimism and some trepidation.

DOUGLAS COUPLAND: GUMHEAD
May 31 — September 1, 2014

Gumhead, 2014
Steel, Milled Foam, Resin, Gum
Commissioned by the Vancouver Art Gallery

The artist has described this 7-foot tall self-portrait as “a gum-based, crowd sourced, publically interactive, self-portrait.”  Viewers and passersby are encouraged to apply their own chewed gum to this sculpture so that over the course of time it will be transformed, eventually obscuring the artist’s face.

Coupland often involves others in the creation of his artworks and also relies on everyday objects—such as gum—as the very materials of his work, playfully refusing to heed any divisions between museums and mass culture in the materials he works with or the subject matter he addresses.

Gumhead is the fifteenth installment of NEXT: A Series of Artist Projects from the Pacific Rim, presented by TD Bank Group.