The Lovers

At first glance these graphic black and white paintings formed from simple dot formations appear to be examples of Op Art, creating the illusion of movement across a static picture plane. When viewed through the lens of a smartphone, however, the images reveal the facades of the World Trade Center, the backdrop against which people trapped in the towers plummeted to their deaths on September 11, 2001. For years after 9/11, Coupland collected images of jumping and falling bodies and through this series he addresses the deep-seated visual memories we carry with us from that tragic day. Simultaneously, the works comment on the contemporary way in which many of us now view the world through the lens of our ever-present phones.

The twenty-first century has been shaped by many events but in Coupland's view perhaps most profoundly by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, environmental degradation and the ubiquitous presence of new technologies. Coupland comments on the darker side of today's world through installations and paintings that are often enhanced by viewing through smartphone technology.