Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland OC OBC (Dec 30, 1961) is a Canadian novelist and artist His fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized terms such as "McJob" and "Generation X" He has published thirteen novels, two collections of short stories, seven non-fiction books, and a number of dramatic works and screenplays for film and television A specific feature of Coupland's novels is their synthesis of postmodern religion, Web 20 technology, human sexuality, and pop culture

Coupland lives in West Vancouver, British Columbia, with his partner David Weir He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a member of the Order of British Columbia He published his twelfth novel Generation A in 2009 He also released an updated version of City of Glass and a biography of Marshall McLuhan for Penguin Canada in their Extraordinary Canadians series, called Extraordinary Canadians: Marshall McLuhan He is the presenter of the 2010 Massey Lectures, and a companion novel to the lectures, Player One – What Is to Become of Us: A Novel in Five Hours Coupland has been longlisted twice for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2006 and 2010, respectively, was a finalist for the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize in 2009, and was nominated for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize in 2011 for Extraordinary Canadians: Marshall McLuhan

Coupland was born on December 30, 1961 at Royal Canadian Air Force base RCAF Station Baden-Soellingen (later CFB Baden-Soellingen) in Baden-Söllingen, West Germany, the second of four sons to Dr Douglas Charles Thomas Coupland, a medical officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and homemaker C Janet Coupland, a graduate in comparative religion from McGill University In 1965, the Coupland family relocated to West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where Coupland's father opened private family medical practice at the completion of his military tour

Coupland describes his upbringing as producing a "blank slate" "My mother comes from a sour-faced family of preachers who from the 19th century to well into the 20th scoured the prairies thumping Bibles Her parents tried to get away from that but unwittingly transmitted their values to my mother My father's family weren't that different"

Graduating from Sentinel Secondary School in West Vancouver in 1979, Coupland went to McGill University with the intention of (like his father) studying the sciences, specifically physics Coupland left McGill at the year's end and returned to Vancouver to attend art school

At the Emily Carr College of Art and Design (now the Emily Carr University of Art and Design) on Granville Island in Vancouver, in Coupland's words, "I had the best four years of my life It's the one place I've felt truly, totally at home It was a magic era between the hippies and the PC goon squads Everyone talked to everyone and you could ask anybody anything" Coupland graduated from Emily Carr in 1984 with a focus on sculpture, and moved on to study at the European Design Institute in Milan, Italy and the Hokkaido College of Art & Design in Sapporo, Japan He also completed courses in business science, fine art, and industrial design in Japan in 1986

Established as a designer working in Tokyo, Coupland suffered a skin condition brought on by Tokyo's summer climate, and returned to Vancouver Before leaving Japan, Coupland had sent a postcard ahead to a friend in Vancouver The friend's husband, a magazine editor, read the postcard and offered Coupland a job writing for the magazine Coupland began writing for magazines as a means of paying his studio bills Reflecting on his becoming a writer, Coupland has admitted that he became one "By accident I never wanted to be a writer Now that I do it, there's nothing else I'd rather do"

Visual arts:
In 2000, Coupland resumed a visual arts practice dormant since 1989 His is a post-medium practice that employs a variety of materials A common theme in his work is a curiosity with the corrupting and seductive dimensions of pop culture and 20th century pop art, especially that of Andy Warhol Another recurring theme is military imagery, the result of growing up in a military family at the height of the Cold War He is represented by the Clark & Faria Gallery in Toronto In June 2010 he announced his first efforts as a clothing designer by collaborating with Roots Canada on a collection that is a representation of classic Canadian icons The Roots X Douglas Coupland collection was announced in The Globe and Mail and featured clothing, art installations, sculpture, custom designed art and retail spaces

In September 2010, Coupland, working with Toronto's PLANT Architect, won the art and design contract for a new national monument in Ottawa "The Memorial" is to be erected for the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation, and will be completed in April 2012

In October 2012, the 60-foot tall "Infinite Tires" was erected as part of Vancouver's public art program to accompany the opening of a Canadian Tire store The construct was linked to the concept of Romanian artist Constantin Brâncuși's “Infinite Column

In 2014, Coupland announced plans to construct in south Vancouver a gold-coloured replica of Stanley Park's Hollow Tree

In 2015, Coupland became Google's Artist in Residence at the Google Cultural Institute in Paris

Public works:
Canada:
British Columbia

Digital Orca, 2010, Jack Poole Plaza, Vancouver
Golden Tree, 2015, Marine Drive and Cambie Street, Vancouver
Infinite Tires, 2012, SW Marine Drive and Ontario Street, Vancouver
Terry Fox Memorial, 2012, Terry Fox Plaza, BC Place Stadium, Vancouver
Ontario

Super Nova, 2008, Shops at Don Mills, North York
Group Portrait 1957, 2011, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa
Canadian Fallen Firefighters Memorial, 2012, 220 Lett Street, Ottawa
Four Seasons, 2012, Don Mills Road and Sheppard Avenue East, Toronto
Monument to the War of 1812, 2008, Fleet and Bathurst streets, Toronto
The Beaver Dam, 2008, Canoe Landing Park, Toronto
The Bluff, 2008, Canoe Landing Park, Toronto
Float Forms, 2008, Canoe Landing Park, Toronto
Heart-shaped Stone, 2008, Canoe Landing Park, Toronto
Iceberg Benches, 2008, Canoe Landing Park, Toronto
The Red Canoe, 2008, Canoe Landing Park, Toronto
Museum exhibitions:
In 2014, the Vancouver Art Gallery exhibited a major retrospective of Coupland's art, entitled "everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything" The Vancouver iteration of the show was captured on Google Street View In 2015, the show was exhibited next in Toronto where it was split into two parts and exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art The monograph from the show was published by Black Dog Publishing, London

Group shows:
The Heart is a Deceitful Above All Things, HOME (Manchester) Contemporary Arts Centre, Manchester, 2015
The Fab Mind, 21 21 Design Sight, The Issey Miyake Foundation, Tokyo, 2014
Do It, Ciclo (Cycle), Centro Cultural do Brasil, Sao Paulo, 2013
Billboard, Biennial of the Americas, Denver, 2013
Supersurrealism, 2012 Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 2012
Posthastism, Pavilion Gallery, Beijing, 2011
https://hisour.com/artist/douglas-coupland/