Fairmont Pacific Rim is home to a growing international art collection. Under the direction of owners and developers Westbank and the Peterson Group, the collection is not themed, rather driven by interest and passion. Started in 2010 with the hotel’s opening, the collection underlines a deep commitment to bringing art and artists into all aspects of the hotel’s design and development. Recently, Fairmont Pacific Rim has become the latest resting place of Douglas Coupland‘s two-meter tall Japanese mascot figure ‘Moneyboy’ and ‘Moneygirl.’ The two figures take center stage atop the marble fireplace in The Lobby Lounge.
“These two works have a strange history. In 1999, Coupland found a 40-cm-tall Japanese mascot figure of the male figure above in the trash outside a Naka-Meguro, Tokyo second-hand store. It was in very rough shape, and when Coupland asked about it, he was told it was a mascot placed on Japanese streets by the Daichi Kangyo Bank in the 1960s and 1970s. It was used to lure children in off the streets to open bank accounts. Coupland brought the damaged mascot to Vancouver where it underwent an extensive restoration. Among Coupland’s circle the figure was called ‘Moneyboy’ because of its banking roots.”
Douglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist and artist. Since 1991 he has written thirteen novels and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, e-flux, DIS and Vice. In the summer of 2014, The Vancouver Art Gallery honoured Coupland, one of Canada’s most celebrated artists, with a major museum exhibition titled ‘Everything is Anything is Anywhere is Everywhere.’ The exhibit was divided into five sections and addressed the key themes Douglas Coupland uses to probe modern life. One of Douglas Coupland’s more recognizable public art pieces is located across the street from Fairmont Pacific Rim at Jack Poole Plaza. The ‘Digital Orca’ sculpture was created in 2009 to allow the viewer to travel in time between the past and the future as well as to commemorate the workers in and around Burrard Inlet and Coal Harbour.
Digital Orca – Photo Credit: coupland.com
