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In conversation with PIERRE COUPEY, published in GALLERIES WEST magazine, October 2020, in advance of Coupey’s exhibition Walking the Cat Back at Gallery Jones.

Pierre Coupey’s exhibition ‘Manifest | Trace’ shows at the Seymour Art Gallery in North Vancouver BC, from March 2 – April 13, 2019 In his arresting solo exhibition ‘Manifest | Trace’, West Vancouver artist Pierre Coupey presents work in a variety of media that foregrounds the importance of language and the immense impact it has on shaping our world. A quartet of square monochromatic oil paintings, a glowing neon text-based installation, twenty-six ceramic plates each carved, painted, and inscribed with a letter of the alphabet, occupy the gallery. In homage to American writers William Carlos Williams and Gilbert Sorrentino, Coupey gives physical form to two of their seminal works and takes inspiration from their poetry about life and language. ‘Manifest | Trace’ exemplifies Coupey’s method of working in shorter series that originate from a core set of concepts and emotions. The exhibition, divided into several of these smaller series, makes clear how Coupey explores deliberately restricted aesthetic parameters in each. Pierre Coupey was a founding co-editor of The Georgia Straight and founding editor of The Capilano Review. His work has received awards, grants, commissions, including grants from the Conseil des Arts du Québec, the Canada Council, and the BC Arts Council. He has published nine books of poetry, chapbooks, catalogues, and exhibited in Canada and abroad. His work is represented in private, corporate, university and public collections, including those of the Burnaby Art Gallery, the Canada Council Art Bank, the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery and the Vancouver Art Gallery. His work is represented by Gallery Jones in Vancouver and by Odon Wagner Contemporary in Toronto.

PIERRE COUPEY AT SEYMOUR ART GALLERY

A solo exhibition featuring Pierre Coupey is on exhibition at Seymour Art Gallery in North Vancouver. Manifest | Trace (March 2 - April 13, 2019) presents work in a variety of media that foregrounds the importance of language on shaping our world. 

In the accompanying video Coupey shares about his moment of inspiration for the show and other influences that led to the project.

PIERRE COUPEY AT GORDON SMITH GALLERY, 09.18

Artwork by Pierre Coupey is currently on display as part of Transformations (September 28, 2018 – April 12, 2019) at Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art in North Vancouver. The group exhibition, curated by Daylen Luschinger, is made up of selected works from the Artists For Kids Collection.

PIERRE COUPEY WITH DION KLINER: ROCK POOL

Exhibition Dates: October 13 – November 17, 2018

PIERRE COUPEY INDUCTED INTO THE RCA, 05.18

Congratulations to Pierre Coupey on his induction to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, taking place this weekend in Ottawa. Since 1880, the RCA has recognized and celebrated the achievements of Canadian visual artists and designers.

PIERRE COUPEY REVIEWED IN TWO COATS OF PAINT, 10.17

Pierre Coupey’s solo exhibition ACROSS | BETWEEN | WITHIN (October 13 – November 4th, 2017) at the Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, has been reviewed by Dion Kliner on New York City-based art blog Two Coats of Paint. Kliner describes Coupey’s paintings as “lush and wet, the paint’s viscous materiality so thinned that it runs down in rivulets creating a gravitational flow, making the paintings look as if they could slide right off their supports.

PIERRE COUPEY AT KELOWNA ART GALLERY, 06.17

Pierre Coupey is one of several artists whose work is on display at the Kelowna Art Gallery as part of The Big Picture, a group exhibition curated by Liz Wylie that runs from April 29 to June 25, 2017. The Big Picture brings together a selection of large-scale artworks from the gallery’s permanent collection, some of which have never been exhibited.

PIERRE COUPEY REVIEWED IN THE VANCOUVER SUN, 11.16

Kevin Griffin writes on the exhibition of Pierre Coupey at Gallery Jones: “Pierre Coupey’s new paintings are open and full of feeling and intelligence…”

PIERRE COUPEY: RECENT WORK

Exhibition dates: October 14 – November 19, 2016

PIERRE COUPEY WINS 2013 DISTINGUISHED ART AWARD, 09.13

The Fund for the Arts on the North Shore Society (FANS) acknowledges local artists living on Vancouver’s North Shore who have achieved national and international recognition in their field.

Pierre Coupey’s career spans five decades and is marked by significant contributions to the Canadian cultural landscape through writing, painting, printmaking and photo work. He was a founding Co-Editor of The Georgia Straight and the founding Editor of The Capilano Review. He has published several books of poetry, chapbooks and catalogues, and exhibited in solo and group shows nationally and internationally. His work is represented in numerous private and public collections in Canada, the United States, Japan and Europe.

FANS Tribute to the Artist: Friday, November 8, 2013, 7-9pm

PIERRE COUPEY: CUTTING OUT THE TONGUE, 03.13

The 2013 survey show of Pierre Coupey’s work, featuring some 40 key paintings on canvas and paper, presents a snapshot of his practice from 1976 to the present. Selected by curators Darrin Morrison for the West Vancouver Museum and Astrid Heyerdahl for the Art Gallery at the Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam, these concurrent exhibitions span four decades of the artist’s work and reveal a number of his themes and concerns, from the public realm of geo-political conflict to the cosmological realm of poetry and literature. In these two exhibitions the curators present a close-up look at Coupey’s trajectory as a painter, and on the consequences –– the contradictions and tensions deeply embedded in his abstract canvasses –– of his decision to obey, however ironically, metaphorically, Matisse’s impossible admonition in Jazz to “cut out the tongue” and paint.

The exhibitions are accompanied by a full colour catalogue with an essay by Lary Timewell Bremner.


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PIERRE COUPEY IN “THE ARTIST’S CIRCLE” AT HARMONY ARTS FESTIVAL, 06.11

Gallery Jones is pleased to announce that Pierre Coupey will be featured in an exhibition at this year’s Harmony Arts Festival, running from July 29 – August 7 on the waterfront in Ambleside, West Vancouver.

An artist’s talk and reception will take place on August 3, celebrating artist Gordon Smith’s contributions and accomplishments to the community. Please join Gordon Smith and Pierre, along with Douglas Coupland and Ian Wallace on the waterfront for an evening of celebration as they discuss important artists who contributed to establishing British Columbia as a leading centre for the visual arts. Proceeds from the event will go to support the West Vancouver Museum and future visual art exhibitions and programs. Ticket price: $75 per person for the talk and reception.

The Artist’s Circle exhibition is a 10 day, 10 artist special exhibit highlighting the works of internationally recognized artists associated with Gordon Smith, member of the Order of Canada and winner of the 2009 Governor’s General Medal for the Visual and Media arts. The Artist’s Circle exhibition is free to the public.

Exhibiting artists include Gordon Smith, Sonny Assu, Joan Balzar, B.C. Binning, Pierre Coupey, Douglas Coupland, Attila Richard Lukacs, Jack Shadbolt, Sylvia Tait, Ian Wallace, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.