Private Thoughts in Public Language

Douglas Coupland clearly suffers from hyper artistic activity disorder, but he prefers to say, at least in interviews, that he is mildly autistic—not that the two diagnoses can’t dwell in the same body. His artwork is increasingly everywhere, for example in Toronto at the intersection of Bathurst and Lake Shore Boulevard. Today that is the site of frantic condo construction; it was once a hub of manufacture and transport, and before that a battleground, Fort York. Coupland’s Remembering the War of 1812 was installed there last November. It has one double–human-size bronze-coloured fallen tin soldier (16th United States Infantry Regiment), and one standing tin soldier (Royal Newfoundland Regiment). It was paid for by Malibu Investment, which is building “boutique condos” all over Toronto, including 187 at that address, and many in Vancouver, where Coupland lives. The company’s website still boasts that “often, Malibu Investment recognizes potential in what it calls...