A public art installation by Douglas Coupland in Toronto was destoryed by a fire last week, in what local police are calling arson.
Coupland’s piece was an homage to one of Canada’s most well-known painters, Tom Thomson, whose landscapes capture north Ontario and have nationalist overtones. He was not officially a member of the Group of Seven art movement, but he was close with its members.
The Coupland artwork, Tom Thomson’s Canoe (2008), took the form of a red boat and alluded to Thomson’s premature death at 39 in 1917 during a canoeing accident.
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On April 2, around 2 a.m., police officers were called to a fire at Canoe Landing Park. When they arrived on the scene, the piece had already been “engulfed in flames and, unfortunately, was destroyed,” according to a Toronto police report that was posted on social media.
Coupland’s now-lost installation was a civic landmark. Following the fire, only its steel framework remains.
“At the moment, we know it was arson, but we don’t know its motive. Art is always a lightning rod. Was it political? Who’s to say,” Coupland told the Art Newspaper. “Very close by, there’s my Monument to the War of 1812, which I did in 2008. An English soldier standing above a toppled US soldier. Maybe that’s next?”
Coupland, who is also a writer and a designer, is sometimes credited with popularizing the terms “Generation X” and “McJob.” His artwork takes the form of paintings, monumental sculptures, installations, and text.