Water Flowing Under Rocks

The collages forming Coupland's Penguin series are centred around Penguin publishing house's familiar orange and black paperbacks. Over the covers of these iconic cultural tomes, which have been splayed down, Coupland has applied vinyl texts some of which form short phrases such as "Blasphemous Rumours," the title of a Depeche Mode song, or "Love Will Tear Us Apart," a song by the British post-punk band Joy Division, layering additional meaning and cultural references. Here, as in his Hornet's Nest series, he has used books as the very material from which he creates his artwork.

As a writer and visual artist, Coupland has often disregarded the traditional divide between these disciplines. Using letters, words and books as material and content for his art, Coupland harnesses the power of language in the visual realm.