Nearly a quarter century ago, 1990 to be precise, Douglas Coupland emerged from the arid Mojave Desert in the American southwest with what would become his breakout novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. While the novel was initially passed on by Canadian publishers, it was quickly picked up by an American publishing company, and released to critical acclaim in March of 1991. In the years since, Coupland has not only been embraced by Canadian publishers and the national populace, but also by art and film enthusiasts across the country. After his interest in visual arts was rekindled 14 years ago, Douglas embarked on what has become a monumental career branch in art, with a growing body of public installations and commissioned monuments in highly visible locations across the country including Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver.

In recent years, Douglas Coupland’s colourful and immersive pop-art inspired installations have shown up around Toronto in places like Canoe Landing Park in Concord CityPlace and the lobby of 123 Front Street West in the Financial District. This past Friday, Douglas Coupland’s Toronto portfolio grew yet again, as his newest creation was officially unveiled at ELAD Canada’s Emerald City condominium development, under construction in North York.

Douglas Coupland's 'Four Seasons' with the Fall pylon in the foreground, image by Jack Landau

Four Seasons consists of four brightly-coloured conical pylons ranging between 48 and 60 feet in height. The pylons are oriented in a perfect line, starting at the corner of Don Mills Road and Sheppard Avenue and continuing southeast through the site towards Forest Manor Road. As the name implies, Four Seasons is meant to represent the four distinct seasons experienced in our climate, with Winter at the southeast end (somewhat hidden amongst the details of the buildings behind it in the image below), next to Spring, then Summer, and finally Fall at the northwest end.

The Summer, Spring and Winter pylons colorfully contrast the mid-century apartment blocks to the east, image by Jack Landau

The vibrant colour palette used to depict these seasons is inspired by the popular Laurentian pencil crayons which are a fixture of Canadian childhood artistic endeavours, and reminiscent of the vivid colours used on Coupland’s ‘Float Forms’ installation at Canoe Landing Park. The bright horizontal bands of colour change from pylon to pylon, with select colours transitioning to hues more indicative of the season they represent. An Inkblot Media video narrated by Coupland explains it all.

The pylon furthest to the southeast representing Winter features a snowy-white finish with occasional splashes of colour. By far the most subdued quarter of the installation, the touches of colour are a sign of the season to come.

Winter pylon, viewed from ground level, image by Jack Landau

Winter pylon, viewed from Emerald City Phase 1, image by Jack Landau

Spring: Sounds pretty good right about now, huh? The next pylon in line is much more colourful, representing the yearly thaw and rebirth of the seasonal cycle. Bright, almost neon hues replace much of the white seen on the previous pylon, with just a few snowy rings remaining—indicative of the first weeks of Spring.

Spring pylon, viewed from Emerald City Phase 1, image by Jack Landau

Summer is represented by warmer base colours in the rings of vibrant candy-like tones. In the images below, the Summer pylon shows a great deal more green than its two neighbours to the southeast.

Summer pylon in the foreground, image by Jack Landau

Summer pylon, viewed from ground level, image by Jack Landau

The colours get richer on the pylon representing Fall, with darker and warmer hues depicting the familiar Fall tones seen in the Great Lakes region.

Fall pylon viewed from above, image by Craig White

In addition to the recently unveiled Four Seasons installation, Douglas Coupland's work is featured throughout the Emerald City development, including art in the lobbies as well as colourful light standards marking the path from the building's ground level parking exit to the adjacent TTC subway entrance.

In the soon-to-be-furnished lobby, Coupland's abstractions, jumping off from his Group of Seven-inspired geometric landscapes, bring the seasonal colours inside.

Main lobby, with art by Douglas Coupland, image by Craig White

Colourful abstract art in the lobby of Emerald City, image by Craig White

In the north lobby area, Coupland looks down on the four pylons from above to create these four seasonally hued targets, prints which also form an homage to Claude Tousignant's Chromatic Accelerators of the 1960s and 70s. 

Colourful circular patterns depict an aerial interpretation of 'Four Seasons', image by Craig White

The theme continues in the building's outdoor link-way to Don Mills subway station.

Coupland-designed light posts outside Emerald City's Sheppard Avenue entrance, image by Jack Landau

All of this co-ordinated by Public Art Management Ltd., Coupland will be adding even more colour to the Don Mills and Sheppard area, with seven tall, colourful cylinders to be installed in front of the new Parkway Forest Community Centre, under construction just southeast of Emerald City on Forest Manor Road. 

Rendering of Parkway Forest Community Centre

Below, we include a small gallery of photos depicting an earlier stage of assembly of Four Seasons from several weeks ago. Enjoy!

Fall pylon's support structure, as seen in mid-December, image by Jack Landau

The Summer pylon's tip as seen in mid-December, image by Jack Landau

The Winter pylon was the first to be completed in mid-December, image by Jack Landau

The Fall pylon seen earlier this month. Note the 3 completed pylons in the background, image by Jack Landau

Additional information can be found by visiting our dataBase file, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or voice your opinion in the comments section provided at the bottom of the page.