Leo Copers
° 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.
Items
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Leo Copers 'Sculpturen' 1...
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.
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Tafeltje
Leo Copers, Tafeltje, 1979. Sculpture, wood, silk, metal, 90.5 x 30 cm.
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Lichtend tafeltje [Lightn...
Leo Copers, Lichtend tafeltje [Lightning Table], 1983. Sculpture, wood, mirror, cable, cotton, lamps, 90,5 x 29 cm.
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GA - Tijdschrift van de G...
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.
Events
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Dear ICC — Aspects of Con...
18 December 2004 - 27 February 2005.
During the seventies and the early eighties, the ICC was an intermediary between a progressive art praxis and the ill-at-ease public, as well -
The collection XXXII – Pe...
07 December 2012 - 21 April 2013.
2013 was the ‘year of the collection’. Two large exhibitions and an extensive book put the contents of the M HKA collection on the map and po -
EXTRA MUROS: Visite Borne...
03 May 2014 - 25 May 2014.
Under the umbrella term Visite, the M HKA – in collaboration with LOCUS, the hub for libraries, cultural and community centres and local cult -
EXTRA MUROS: Visite Herze...
03 April 2015 - 03 May 2015.
Under the umbrella term Visite, the M HKA - in collaboration with LOCUS, the nerve centre for libraries, cultural and community centres and l
Ensembles
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Stichting Gordon Matta-Cl...
In various ways, the ICC played an important part in forming the potential of the collection. Flor Bex aspired to establish a museum in Antwe
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M HKA_DEFAULT_PUBLICATIONS
Since the end of May 2002, the M HKA has strayed from the beaten track of museum catalogues. The M HKA does not consider a systematic thereof
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NUCLEUS
The M HKA’s contemporary art collection has grown thanks to a combination of acquisitions, donations and long-term loans from various public
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Francky Cane - Invitation...
No description.