Douglas Coupland at the VAG

Douglas Coupland is a Vancouver based artist and writer. He’s written 12 novels and many other books; as well, he’s a multimedia artist. His latest exhibition Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything is currently on replay at the Vancouver Art Gallery. His exhibition illuminates what he views as the 21st century condition.

As I am also both artist and writer so I was intrigued by this exhibit.

I love Vancouver, BC. It’s a second home because I visit so often. Every visit I like to take in the VAG; other artist always manage to inspire me in some way. I had the pleasure of touring the Vancouver Art Gallery with my three daughters.

What I love about the exhibit is that Coupland encourages photography. Thus, my readers, you are in luck! I hope you enjoy my rare photo-based (condensed)  tour of Coupland’s exhibition at VAG.

First stop, Gumhead!

As part on an interactive exhibit we were encouraged to paste our chewed gum on the sculpted head of the artist.

My friend Ritch joins us in our artistic quest.

It was a little disgusting as the gum kept falling off and the fear of touching everyone else’s gum was real!

The above picture is taken from a larger installation titled The World. I focused on the pile of dead bees and the treeless playground with an oil slick in the grass. I liked this installation because it represents the state of our planet today; there are so few natural spaces left on earth and we’ve poisoned what nature is left.

I found the giant-sized plastic bottles brilliant; indeed, even without writing on them they are recognizable. Sad that plastic bottles have become such a huge part of our modern reality.

These faces represent teens in our current society. I found it interesting as I have 2 teenage daughters.

The above wig exhibit I found revolting. I didn’t like that Coupland used real fur as well as synthetic material to construct the wigs. Perhaps he used real fur for that reason–to evoke disgust. It is sad that this installation sums up the image that stays with most of us who never met Andy Warhol; he’s been reduced to disgusting wigs yet his pop art lives on.

I’m a big David Bowie fan…no explanation really needed here.

The above exhibit pieces are a personal favourite of mine. He says what we’re all feeling and a few of us are thinking about this crazy online world of ours. My favourite one is a little blurry. It says:

 It’s probably For The Best That Everyone Is Online Instead Of Outside Wrecking Things.

Douglas Coupland’s interpretation of Tom Thompson’s work. Stunning pieces, they drew me in from across the gallery.

I hope you enjoyed our short VAG tour. The art gallery tour is over and now it is time to take Ritch’s dog Stella for a walk through Vancouver’s West End.