Thursday, August 28, 2014

Douglas Coupland Exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery

One of the last "cool" things that Dave and I did together before my departure from Vancouver was to check out the Douglas Coupland exhibit that had been featured at the Vancouver Art Gallery since May 31. The exhibit, which runs till Sept 1 (so hurry your booties over there if you haven't seen it yet), is called "everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything" (ooh, so artsy) and features a ton of colorful and interesting commentaries on Canadian life, pop culture and modern technology, using a whoooole bunch of different materials across different mediums.

Douglas Coupland at Vancouver Art Gallery

While, honestly, most of the descriptions/explanations of each piece of art were incredibly eye-roll-inducing with their over-the-top stretching for metaphors and desperate attempts to impress us with artistic insight (picture an OG hipster in a Portland coffee shop using as much pretentious language as possible to describe the symbolism behind the curvature of a coffee cup handle), the works were all visually fun to take in. Sometimes I wish artists would just come out and say, "I just liked the way these things looked together," rather than trying desperately to convey some deeper meaning behind everything they've done. It comes off as such bull plop and, I think, detracts from the experience of what could simply be an opportunity for pure visual enjoyment.

Anyway, that said, here are a few of the "visually enjoyable" works of art we saw that day at the exhibit (which we were encouraged to photograph and share):

Douglas Coupland art, neatly arranged knick-knacks on shelves

Douglas Coupland art, neatly arranged knick-knacks on shelves

Douglas Coupland, sculpture of cell phone tower damaged by ice storm

Douglas Coupland, Lego, Little boxes

Douglas Coupland, Lego, Little boxes

Dave checking out the Lego houses
.  david ponders the deeper meaning behind the identical lego homes  .
Douglas Coupland, Lego city towers

Douglas Coupland, sculptures with blocks

Douglas Coupland, portrait dripping with paint


Douglas Coupland, Big detergent bottles









This was obviously just a small sampling of the works that are on display in the exhibit. If you like seeing weird and colorful shit put together into sculptures and displays, or pop-art-esque paintings/graphics, or ummm huge bottles of detergent, then hurry to check out everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything before it leaves Vancouver next week!

Meanwhile in my life, I've got an exciting weekend coming up. My friends Abby and Geoff are getting married on Sunday, and I am very excited to be a part of their wedding as a bridesmaid. There are lots of bridal party/wedding preparation activities planned for Saturday and Sunday, so I'll report back on that with lots of pictures and hashtags and CAPS LOCK, for sure. Expect a quick check-in tomorrow for a report on what nail polishes I'll be donning for the occasion!

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2 comments:

  1. This is super cool!
    I actually enjoy listening to people explain the "symbolism." It's pretty entertaining when the person has no idea what they're talking about, and it is thoroughly enlightening when they do!

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    Replies
    1. I think I must run into more of the "person has no idea what they're talking about" explanations hahah! It became a little exhausting by the end of this particular exhibit! I wish I'd taken a few photos of the descriptions too hehe.

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