In cooperation with Hoffmann und Campe editors, Hamburg
and Schauspielhaus Hamburg:
Douglas Coupland`s Photographic Prints for the first time
on show in Europe.
Douglas Coupland in march 2002 about his work:
BEAUTIFUL STAINS
Its easy for me to make something look good, and
Im not coy about it. Years of being inside all levels
of the global media machine have given me an ability to "art
direct” whatever I need to. Less effortless has been
the integration of both personal and critical dimensions
into visual bodies of work.
Im 39. With aging comes inescapable sorrows and
mixed blessings -- nobody is exempt. What has particularly
surprised me is how deeply the suffering of people in my
life has affected both the way I relate to the world, and
the sort of visual work I in turn create.
Im also taken aback by the power and sting with
which suppressed feelings and desires demand to make themselves
known. This is a recent thing with me. In 1998 I wouldnt
have believed it possible. Between 1990 and 2000 I created
almost no visual work. As a writer, my emotions were channeled
into words rather than optical artifacts.
The pieces presented here in this show represent, as far
as I can tell, a nascent sensibility in play. They are conscious
critical exercises in generating new forms by alloying mind
and spirit. I feel simultaneously embarrased and inspired
by writing claims such as these that peculiar alloy
of irony and commitment that defines the current era. But
I dont think its possible to enter the other
side of the mirror or the future without crossing
this particular moral landscape.
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