Leo CopersActor from M HKA Ensembles

Leo Copers

©image: Isabelle Pateer

° 1947

Born in Ghent (), lives in Ghent ().

Leo Copers has built up a varied oeuvre of sculptural work, installations and performances since the late sixties. The starting point is an everyday object, which he changes, isolates or expands so that it will become both poetic and dramatic, speaking of danger, destruction and mortality. Copers’s work is composed with a measure of both irony and strategicic thinking. The use objects are selected on the basis of the specific expectations they create in the viewer. But this expectation is immediately undermined by means of some minimal adjustment to the context. The materials chosen may well inspire caution, but at the same time they create an alienating and romantic image. The aestheticisation of violence is a recurring element in Copers’s oeuvre. He plays on the margins between material things, harsh reality and the disturbing power of an immoral dream world, using weapons as a metaphor, as his mental clenched fist. He uses things not normally available to the artist. It is, for instance, forbidden for ordinary citizens to carry a weapon. At first sight Copers’s work often appears highly accessible and attractive, even beautiful. But this is always followed by a moment of amazement. Things are never what they at first seem, or at least not entirely. There is a hint of real danger and mystery. In addition, there is always tension between the elements used. The artist is interested in such natural forces as water, light and fire, and strives to pitch them against each other.

Worksfilter for M HKA works

>Leo Copers, Vliegende messen [Flying Knives], 1974.Installation, butcher knifes, motor, fishing line, metal, Variable dimensions.

>Leo Copers, Gouden strop en stoel [Golden Noose and Chair], 1979.Sculpture, rope, velvet, gilding, 40 x 89 x 206 cm.

>Leo Copers, Tafeltje, 1979.Sculpture, wood, silk, metal, 90.5 x 30 cm.

>Leo Copers, Leo Copers, 1980.Book, ink, paper, 29.7 x 20.9 cm, 23 p., language : Dutch, publisher : ICC/Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, Antwerpen.

>Leo Copers, Onzichtbare kogel. Kogel in kristal. Kogel in bergkristal [Invisible Bullet. Bullet in Crystal. Bullet in Mountain Crystal], 1980.Sculpture.

>Leo Copers, Koffer [Suitcase], 1981.Sculpture, wood, metal, charcoal, gold leaf, 94 x 38 x 37 cm.

>Leo Copers, Lichtend tafeltje [Lightning Table], 1983.Sculpture, wood, mirror, cable, cotton, lamps, 90,5 x 29 cm.

>Koen Theys, Frank Theys, Leo Copers, Wilfried Huet, GA - Tijdschrift van de Galerij van de Akademie Van Waasmunster, Jrg.7, nr.2, maart 1988, 1988.Periodical, ink, paper, 57.7 x 41.7 cm, 2 p., ill., language : Dutch, publisher : Galerij van de Akademie Van Waasmunster.

>Francky Cane , Pierre Alechinsky, Jean Bilquin, Bram Bogart, Jan Burssens, Jacques Charlier, Willem Cole, Leo Copers, Franky DC, Raoul De Keyser, Paul Delvaux, Yves De Smet, Karel Dierickx, Lili Dujourie, James Ensor , Jean-Michel Folon, Jean-Jacques Gailliard, Octave Landuyt, Marc Maet, Marcel Maeyer, Frans Masereel, Danny Matthys, Jozef Mees, Luc Peire, Roger Raveel, Rita Reychler, Pjeroo Roobjee, Raoul Servais, Rik Slabbinck, Philippe Vandenberg, Ludwig Vandevelde, Philip Van Isacker, Paul Van Rafelghem, Dan Van Severen, Willy Van Sompel, Erik Verhal , Pierre Vlerick , Roger Wittevrongel , Maurice Wyckaert, Kunst & Leven: 80 KUNSTENAARS schenken een werk voor een POLIO-VRIJE WERELD, 1989.Invitation Card, print on paper, 29,7 x 21 cm.

>Leo Copers, Leo Copers 'Sculpturen' 1989-1968, 1990.Book, ink, paper, 27.7 x 21 cm, 156 p., language : Dutch, French, English, publisher : Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen & Centraal Museum Utrecht & Stichting 'Kunst en Projecten' vzw, Zedelgem.

Exhibitions & Ensembles

> Exhibition: Dear ICC – Aspects of contemporary art in Belgium 1970-1985. 18 December 2004 - 27 February 2005.

> Exhibition: De Verzameling II en een keuze van schenkingen en bruiklenen. 30 June 1990 - 04 November 1990.

> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Visite Bornem - Gedeelde Ruimte. 03 May 2014 - 25 May 2014.

> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Visite Herzele – Beyond words. 03 April 2015 - 03 May 2015.

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> Exhibition: Kunst & Leven: 80 KUNSTENAARS schenken een werk voor een POLIO-VRIJE WERELD. 01 April 1989 - 08 April 1989.

> Exhibition: Leo Copers – Sculptures 1968-1989. 12 May 1990 - 17 June 1990.

> Exhibition: The collection XXVIII – If you shoot a bullet in a vacuum, will it keep travelling forever? (Emily Wardill). 17 June 2011 - 18 September 2011.