Name/Title
Le Buckminsterfullerene!Entry/Object ID
2015.02.04Description
Douglas Coupland (b. 1961) is a novelist, writer, and visual artist. He was born on a NATO base in Baden-Söllingen, Germany while his father was serving a tour overseas as a medical officer for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Around the age of four, Coupland's family would move back to Canada settling in Vancouver. He eventually attended Emily Carr University of Art and Design with a focus on sculpture. He later studied at the European Design Institute in Milan, Italy and the Hokkaido College of Art & Design in Sapporo, Japan.
Coupland's visual art practices utilize a wide range of media including assemblage, installation, painting, photography, sculpture and quilting. His works continually examine the effect of technology and pop culture on Canadian identity through large, geometric and vibrant compositions filled with Canadian symbolism and cultural references. Yet, right behind the playful pop art appearance of his images, Coupland discusses issues such as the change in the urban landscape, the sensory overstimulation from mass media, and social media surveillance. They are very much a commentary on the future based on present realities and concerns about what could be.
Le Buckminsterfullerene! (2013) references the great American architect and futurist Buckminster Fuller. Fuller was known for his forward thinking, dedicating his life creating designs to solve global problems surrounding housing, shelter, transportation, education, energy, ecological destruction, and poverty. In an homage to the futurist, Coupland situates Fuller in a popular culture context, postings the iconic name in the form of an advertisement.
Coupland is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy, an Officer of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Order of British Columbia, a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and receiver of the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence.
http://www.coupland.com/about-contact/Artwork Details
Medium
archival pigment print on watercolour paperDimensions
Height
97.8 cmWidth
129.5 cm