Publisher's Synopsis
This publication will be the first monograph to provide a comprehensive overview of Douglas Coupland's visual art practice with significant critical assessment of his work. To date, existing publications on Coupland's artwork have been limited in scope and focused upon only a limited portion of his oeuvre. This publication will therefore be an extensive resource for years to come on Coupland's artistic practice, published in collaboration with a major exhibition of his work to be held at the Vancouver Art Gallery, May 31, 2014 September 1, 2014.
Alongside his celebrated status as author of 13 bestselling novels, including his seminal debut Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, Coupland output has taken on the commitment of a true multidisciplinarian, graduating in 1985 from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver before furthering his aesthetic studies at the Hokkaido College of Art and Design in Japan as well as the Sapporo Instituto Europeo di Design, Milan. After concentrating on his literary works for the entire 1990s, Coupland returned to his dormant artistic practice at the turn of the century, exhibiting his work in many solo and collective exhibitions internationally. During the last decade and a half, he has also diversified further, emboldening his body of work within non-fiction, film and television, as well as foraying into fashion design.
Leading from a multidisciplinary background, it would be expected that his work would follow the diverse and multi-media trajectory that it does, focusing on an equally broad spread of personal themes from a fascination with the corruptive desirability of popular culture to the intrigue of military imagery, resulting from Coupland's childhood in such a family unit at the height of the Cold War. Intended as the definitive document of Coupland's artistic career, the book will include reproductions of all the major series' within his work alongside his most recent output and images of the installations within the exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Alongside his celebrated status as author of 13 bestselling novels, including his seminal debut Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, Coupland output has taken on the commitment of a true multidisciplinarian, graduating in 1985 from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver before furthering his aesthetic studies at the Hokkaido College of Art and Design in Japan as well as the Sapporo Instituto Europeo di Design, Milan. After concentrating on his literary works for the entire 1990s, Coupland returned to his dormant artistic practice at the turn of the century, exhibiting his work in many solo and collective exhibitions internationally. During the last decade and a half, he has also diversified further, emboldening his body of work within non-fiction, film and television, as well as foraying into fashion design.
Leading from a multidisciplinary background, it would be expected that his work would follow the diverse and multi-media trajectory that it does, focusing on an equally broad spread of personal themes from a fascination with the corruptive desirability of popular culture to the intrigue of military imagery, resulting from Coupland's childhood in such a family unit at the height of the Cold War. Intended as the definitive document of Coupland's artistic career, the book will include reproductions of all the major series' within his work alongside his most recent output and images of the installations within the exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
