Gun

In the Dead Grads series, Coupland has appropriated high school yearbook photos and darkened the images so that they are barely visible. These blackened portraits pay sombre tribute to those whose lives were cut short in youth, with the titles of the works—Gun, Car Crash, Overdose—stating the tragic means of their deaths.

At the core of Coupland's practice lies a fascination with popular culture. Not only does Coupland utilize the strategies of Pop Art by incorporating objects and images taken directly from everyday life, but he often passes these through the lens of new media. The result is a provocative synthesis of the common with the extraordinary, set in the here and now.