douglas coupland / mom & dad

Last night I attended Douglas Coupland’s opening reception for his most recent art exhibit, entitled Mom & Dad, & held at the Monte Clark Gallery in South Granville.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Coupland’s work, he is a Canadian novelist who is most notably known for his international bestseller, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. He’s since published twelve novels, seven non-fiction & has written work for both film & television. He’s also studied art & design in Canada, Japan & Italy.

In this solo exhibition, Coupland stands at the unavoidable intersection of Andy Warhol as he blends years of his own personal family experiences with his studies & work in pop-culture. The first visual component was a series of flat, framed wigs, made to represent the collection that Warhol use to wear. These were made out animal furs sourced from a taxidermist, which reflected Coupland’s family upbringing in British Columbia. The second part of the show was a vibrant & deeply disturbing re-work of Warhol’s Marilyn paintings & prints. Black, dripping eyes & cigarette foils were some of the peculiar materials used to define his own perception of Warhol. The last & certainly not least part of the show was tucked away on the gallery’s top floor & featured a series of graphic work displaying anime-style Japanese porn with a pop-culture touch. In my words, “pretty porn”.

As per the Coupland’s exhibit schedule, yesterday’s Mom & Dad show was the only one in Vancouver, but if you live in Toronto, do try & make an effort to catch this show there on June 18th. There will be free wine. Many a motivation.

Also, if you’re part of the twitter community like I am, follow Coupland’s tweets here.

| coupland.com