{"id":19410,"title":"Leo Copers - 1999 - Love, Roses and Blood [EN, essay]","dimensions":"3 p.","date_begin":null,"material":"","art_status_id":13,"legal_status_id":47,"category_id":25,"platform_id":1,"deleted":false,"asset_count":1,"stream_count":0,"collection":"Hans Theys Archive / Archief Hans Theys","cached_tag_list":"essay","publishing_process_id":1,"annotation":"","date_end":null,"reference":"","stream_count_app":10,"permalink":"leo-copers-love-roses-and-blood-en-essay","description_ca":"","short_description_ca":"","description_it":"","short_description_it":"","cached_primary_asset_url":null,"cached_actor_names":"Hans Theys","hide_from_json":true,"prev_platform_id":null,"description_uk":null,"short_description_uk":null,"description_tr":null,"short_description_tr":null,"mhka_works":false,"category":{"en":"Text","nl":"Tekst","fr":"Texte"},"poster_image":null,"poster_credits":null,"translations":[{"locale":"en","short_description":"","description":"\u003cp style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n__________\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nHans Theys\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cstrong\u003eLove, Roses and Blood\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nSome Words About the Work of Leo Copers\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026ldquo;The exhibition project for \u0026lsquo;1001 Nights\u0026rsquo; has been postponed till next year,\u0026rdquo; Leo Copers (\u0026deg;1947) tells me, \u0026lsquo;now I\u0026rsquo;m going to make a carpet of Cleopatra. I once read or heard that when Cleopatra received her future lover Anthony, she had a carpet made of rose petals that was 40 cm thick. I would like to show six sections of that carpet, six blocks of one square metre and 40 cm high. Each block would have the six principal colours of roses: white, pink, red, yellow, orange and purple. First I wanted to show these petals in glass boxes, but now I intend to fill crates without bottoms and then slowly lift them up in order to obtain six slightly collapsed heaps. This would at the same time produce a touch of decay\u0026hellip;\u0026rsquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; We talk about a work of art that consists of a solid table which is covered with a layer of dust in which the artist has written the word \u0026lsquo;Yromlice\u0026rsquo;.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;A lot of my work is based on the vanitas theme,\u0026rdquo; Leo Copers tells me, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s the most beautiful theme there is. I\u0026rsquo;ve never tried to invent a new pictorial theme myself. I think that\u0026rsquo;s impossible. Though one can visualise existing themes in a new or different way.\u0026rsquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Three works of art have been brought together for the current exhibition.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026lsquo;Spidertable II\u0026rsquo; is a golden table, almost two metres high, with eight differently sculpted feet. Under the table are very strong lamps that shine with increasing and decreasing intensity, so that the shadows of the feet, and hence the table itself, seem to move.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The second work is a wooden crate (approximately 40 x 50 cm) with the inscription \u0026lsquo;6609\u0026rsquo;. It contains some plastic bags and a skeleton. It also produces the voice of Marcel Duchamp, speaking about the importance of eroticism in his work.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;Eroticism is a very dear subject to me,\u0026rdquo; Duchamp says, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s an animal thing that has so many facets\u0026hellip; that is pleasing to use as a tube of paint, so to speak, to inject in your production.\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; The third work doesn\u0026rsquo;t have a title. It consists of six slightly coloured, but transparent vases of cut glass. The vases are hanging on ropes, at the height of one\u0026rsquo;s neck, and are filled with a mixture of human and animal blood. In each vase stands a rose, respectively a white, a pink, a red, a yellow, an orange and a purple rose. Each vase is linked by a thin thread to a hunting knife that\u0026rsquo;s lying on the floor. There\u0026rsquo;s also a counterpart to this work with vases that are better-cut, hanging on golden ropes and linked to boning knives that are partly covered with dirt and fat.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The mixed blood in the vases has turned brown, just like the inside of the golden boxes that bear imprints of real hearts. The vases also make us think of the work \u0026lsquo;Couple\u0026rsquo;, that consists of coloured carafes with an elegant, white, feminine wine which has been poisoned with belladonna, and transparent carafes containing a sturdy red wine which has been poisoned with mandrake.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Leo Copers is a love poet. Love is seen as a deceitful fairy tale. It\u0026rsquo;s a fairy tale about roses and stylized hearts, but also about steel meat-hooks and cut-out hearts in nicely sculpted shrines; about hovering tables, glass cages and a sword kept in a block of clear ice. The fairy tale about love speaks of cheating, lying and hurting. You wake up from a dream and the knife you were dreaming about lies next to you on the pillow, covered with blood. The bed of petals on which you were sleeping has wilted and is already turning into brown putridity.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Leo Copers is also a man of materials, textures, techniques and precise finishing. His oeuvre shows a permanent twisting around of appearance and reality, genuineness and imitation. Whether it\u0026rsquo;s a line of fire on a river, a series of shining neon lamps on the bottom of a canal or a quickly turning white cloth that makes one think of Marilyn Monroe\u0026rsquo;s skirt blown upwards and at the same time frightens us because of the threatening sound of the motor, each time Copers is showing us perversions of authenticity and falsehood, that are put in front of one another like folding screens.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The large, glass cages are made of real glass, but the 1987 \u0026lsquo;Flower Vase\u0026rsquo; consists of silk flowers that have been collected in a cemetery. Some flowers look new, but others have become pale or dirty. This diversity makes the flowers look so real, that some people wondered how often the flowers had to be replaced.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The work \u0026ldquo;The Nightingale and the Eglantine\u0026rdquo;, that was created in 1980, shows us a rose bush that looks like a wild rose or eglantine. It also produces the music of a gipsy violin player imitating the song of a nightingale.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Since 1991 Leo Copers has been working on a vast piece called \u0026ldquo;1001 Nights\u0026rdquo;. It consists of 1001 preserving jars filled with roses in formalin. Each jar contains roses of a different variety. The artist got the idea to conserve roses when the owners of a famous Belgian crystal glass factory asked him whether he wanted to conceive a multiple for them. Copers, who had already made a crystal carillon for them, proposed to make crystal preserving jars with silver clasps and to conserve one rose in each jar.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;On the edge of kitsch,\u0026rdquo; Copers told me, \u0026ldquo;but slightly ironic as well, because of the preserving jar.\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Later this worked evolved into the wish to conserve one thousand rose varieties. The collecting of enough of all these roses required a search lasting several years. Finally, most of the roses were found in the major rose nurseries for roses of Belgium, France and Germany. People who will finally see parts of this majestic and domestic work of art could be shocked by its appearance. Nearly all the roses have lost their original colour and have turned brown. Actually they look like conserved onions. But then our eyes start getting used to the numerous varieties of these brown colours and we begin to notice remnants of the flower\u0026rsquo;s original colour and shape. We get caught in a kind of delicate aesthetics of decay.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;Tout casse, tout passe,\u0026rdquo; it reads on an etching by F\u0026eacute;licien Rops. I remember a picture from 1992 showing the first seventy preserving jars filled with roses. They were all put on a heavy table with sculpted feet and a luxurious tablecloth, in the middle of a lavishly decorated room with a beautiful carpet on a marvellous wooden floor, tiles on the chimney, etc. Everything speaks of durability, surrounding the enclosed wilting.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nMontagne de Miel, June 1st 1999\u003c/p\u003e\r\n"},{"locale":"nl","short_description":"","description":"\u003cp style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n__________\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nHans Theys\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cstrong\u003eDe liefde, de rozen en het bloed\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cstrong\u003eEnkele woorden over het werk van Leo Copers\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026lsquo;Het tentoonstellingsproject voor \u003cem\u003e1001 Nacht\u003c/em\u003e is uitgesteld tot volgend jaar,\u0026rsquo; vertelt Leo Copers, \u0026lsquo;nu ga ik een tapijt van Cleopatra maken. Ik heb ergens gelezen of gehoord dat toen Cleopatra haar toekomstige minnaar Antonius ontving, ze een tapijt van rozenblaadjes had laten maken dat 40 cm dik was. Ik zou zes fragmenten van dat tapijt willen tonen, zes blokken met een oppervlakte van een vierkante meter en een hoogte van 40 cm. Elke blok zou een van de zes hoofdkleuren van rozen hebben: wit, roze, rood, geel, oranje of paars. Eerst wilde ik die rozenblaadjes tonen in glazen kisten, maar nu ben ik van plan met rozen gevulde kisten zonder bodem voorzichtig op te heffen, zodat je zes ingestorte hopen krijgt. Dat levert tegelijk een vleugje verval of aftakeling op\u0026hellip;\u0026rsquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; We spreken over een werk dat bestaat uit een monumentale tafel die bedekt is met een laag stof waarin het woord \u0026lsquo;Yromlice\u0026rsquo; staat geschreven.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026lsquo;Veel van mijn werken zijn gebaseerd op het vanitas-motief,\u0026rsquo; vertelt Leo Copers, \u0026lsquo;bestaat er een mooier motief? Ik heb nog nooit getracht zelf een nieuw beeldmotief te bedenken. Volgens mij is dat trouwens onmogelijk. Al kan je de bestaande motieven wel op een nieuwe of andere manier in beeld brengen.\u0026rsquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Voor een tentoonstelling in Oslo die binnenkort van start gaat werden drie werken samengebracht.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u003cem\u003eSpintafel II\u003c/em\u003e is een mensenhoge, vergulde tafel met acht verschillend gesculpteerde poten. Onder het tafelblad hangen zeer sterke lampen waarvan de lichtsterkte geleidelijk af- en toeneemt, zodat de schaduwen van de poten en daardoor ook de tafel zelf lijken te bewegen.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Het tweede werk is een houten kist van ongeveer 40 bij 50 centimeter met het opschrift \u0026lsquo;6609\u0026rsquo;, waarin zich een paar doorzichtige plastic zakken en een skelet bevinden. Uit de kist klinkt de stem van Marcel Duchamp op, die spreekt over het belang van de erotiek in zijn werk.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026lsquo;Het heeft iets dierlijks,\u0026rsquo; zegt Duchamp, \u0026lsquo;dat even aangenaam is als spuiten met een tube verf.\u0026rsquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Het derde werk heeft geen titel. Het bestaat uit zes lichtjes gekleurde, maar doorzichtige vazen van geslepen glas, die gevuld zijn met een mengsel van menselijk en dierlijk bloed en die op halshoogte zijn opgehangen aan stroppen. In de vazen zit respectievelijk een witte, een roze, een rode, een gele, een oranje en een paarse roos en van elke vaas vertrekt een fijn draadje dat verbonden is met een op de vloer liggend jachtmes. Dit werk heeft een pendant waarin iets fijner afgewerkte vazen opgehangen zijn aan gouden stroppen, maar verbonden zijn met uitbeenmessen waar nog wat vet en vuil aanhangt.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; In de vazen is het gemengde bloed bruin geworden, net zoals in de vergulde dozen met binnenin afdrukken van een echt hart. De vazen doen ook denken aan het werk \u003cem\u003eKoppel\u003c/em\u003e, dat bestaat uit gekleurde karaffen met een witte, elegante, vrouwelijke wijn die vergiftigd werd met belladonna, en doorzichtige karaffen met een kloeke, rode wijn die vergiftigd werd met mandragora.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Leo Copers is een dichter van de liefde. De liefde wordt opvat als een bedrieglijk sprookje. Het is een sprookje over rozen en gestileerde hartjes, maar ook over stalen vleeshaken en uitgesneden harten in fijn geciseleerde kistjes; over zwevende tafels, glazen kooien en een in helder ijs bevroren zwaard. Het sprookje van de liefde spreekt over valsspelen, liegen en kwetsen. Je ontwaakt uit je droom en het mes waarover je droomde ligt bebloed naast je op het hoofdkussen. Het bed van bloemblaadjes waarop je sliep is verwelkt en verkeert al traag in bruine rottenis.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Leo Copers is ook een man van materialen, stoffen, technieken en precieze afwerking. In heel zijn werk voel je een bedachtzaam en monkelend spel met wat je denkt te zien en wat er werkelijk is. Of het nu gaat om een lijn van vuur over een rivierarm, een ketting van schijnende neonlampen op de bodem van een kanaal of een snel ronddraaiende witte doek die aan de opwaaiende rok van Marilyn Monroe doet denken en ons tegelijk beangstigt door het dreigende geluid van de plots aanslaande motor, telkens weer hebben we te maken met fraaie omkeringen die indrukken van echtheid en valsheid als kamerschermen voor elkaar schuiven.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; De grote glazen kooien zijn van echt glas gemaakt, maar de uit bloemen bestaande vaas, een werk uit 1987, is samengesteld uit zijden bloemen die verzameld werden op een kerkhof. Sommige bloemen zien er nog nieuw uit, maar andere zijn verbleekt of vervuild, waardoor het geheel zo echt lijkt, dat de echtgenote van een befaamd Belgisch museumdirecteur ooit vroeg hoe vaak de bloemen ververst dienden te worden.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Het werk \u003cem\u003eDe nachtegaal en de egelantier\u003c/em\u003e, dat ontstond in 1980, toont ons een rozenstruik die lijkt op een eglantier, terwijl uit het binnenste van de struik door een zigeuner gespeelde vioolmuziek opklinkt die de zang van een nachtegaal nabootst.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Sinds 1991 werkt Leo Copers aan een omvangrijk werk dat \u003cem\u003e1001 Nacht\u003c/em\u003e werd genoemd. Het bestaat uit 1001 inmaakbokalen die stuk voor stuk gevuld werden met rozen en formol. Elke bokaal bevat rozen van een andere vari\u0026euml;teit. De kunstenaar kwam op het idee rozen op te leggen toen eigenaars van een beroemde, Belgische kristalproducent hem vroegen of hij een editie voor hen wilde maken. Copers, die al een beiaard met kristallen klokken met hen had gemaakt, stelde voor kristallen inmaakpotten met zilveren sluithengsels te maken en er een mooie roos in op te leggen.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026lsquo;Op het randje van de kitsch,\u0026rsquo; vertelt Copers, \u0026lsquo;maar niet ontdaan van een weinig ironie, door de inmaakpot.\u0026rsquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Later is hieruit de wens voortgekomen duizend verschillende rozenvari\u0026euml;teiten in te maken. Het verzamelen van voldoende rozen van al deze vari\u0026euml;teiten vergde jaren zoekwerk in de grootste kwekerijen van Belgi\u0026euml;, Frankrijk en Duitsland.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Wie delen van dit fabelachtige en tegelijk huishoudkundige werk tenslotte onder ogen krijgt, zou geschokt kunnen zijn door het uitzicht ervan. Vrijwel alle rozen hebben hun oorspronkelijke kleuren verloren en zijn bruin geworden. Eigenlijk zien ze eruit als opgelegde uien. Pas in tweede instantie went ons oog opnieuw aan de talloze vari\u0026euml;teiten van deze bruine kleuren en gaan we hier en daar restanten bespeuren van de oorspronkelijke kleur en vorm van de bloemen. Het wordt een delicate esthetica van het verderf.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026lsquo;Tout casse, tout passe,\u0026rsquo; luidt het op een gravure van F\u0026eacute;licien Rops. Ik herinner me een foto uit 1992 waarop een presentatie van de eerste zeventig met rozen gevulde bokalen te zien is in een rijkelijk versierde ruimte met fraaie houten vloer, lambrisering, betegelde schoorsteen, een prachtig tapijt, een tafel met dikke, gesculpteerde poten, en een zwaar tafelkleed. Alles ademt duurzaamheid op deze foto, met in het midden het ingesloten verwelken.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nMontagne de Miel, 1 juni 1999\u003c/p\u003e\r\n"},{"locale":"fr","short_description":"","description":"\u003cp style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif,Arial,Verdana,\u0026amp;quot;trebuchet ms\u0026amp;quot;; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n__________\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nHans Theys\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cstrong\u003eLove, Roses and Blood\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nSome Words About the Work of Leo Copers\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026ldquo;The exhibition project for \u0026lsquo;1001 Nights\u0026rsquo; has been postponed till next year,\u0026rdquo; Leo Copers (\u0026deg;1947) tells me, \u0026lsquo;now I\u0026rsquo;m going to make a carpet of Cleopatra. I once read or heard that when Cleopatra received her future lover Anthony, she had a carpet made of rose petals that was 40 cm thick. I would like to show six sections of that carpet, six blocks of one square metre and 40 cm high. Each block would have the six principal colours of roses: white, pink, red, yellow, orange and purple. First I wanted to show these petals in glass boxes, but now I intend to fill crates without bottoms and then slowly lift them up in order to obtain six slightly collapsed heaps. This would at the same time produce a touch of decay\u0026hellip;\u0026rsquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; We talk about a work of art that consists of a solid table which is covered with a layer of dust in which the artist has written the word \u0026lsquo;Yromlice\u0026rsquo;.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;A lot of my work is based on the vanitas theme,\u0026rdquo; Leo Copers tells me, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s the most beautiful theme there is. I\u0026rsquo;ve never tried to invent a new pictorial theme myself. I think that\u0026rsquo;s impossible. Though one can visualise existing themes in a new or different way.\u0026rsquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif,Arial,Verdana,\u0026amp;quot;trebuchet ms\u0026amp;quot;; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Three works of art have been brought together for the current exhibition.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026lsquo;Spidertable II\u0026rsquo; is a golden table, almost two metres high, with eight differently sculpted feet. Under the table are very strong lamps that shine with increasing and decreasing intensity, so that the shadows of the feet, and hence the table itself, seem to move.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The second work is a wooden crate (approximately 40 x 50 cm) with the inscription \u0026lsquo;6609\u0026rsquo;. It contains some plastic bags and a skeleton. It also produces the voice of Marcel Duchamp, speaking about the importance of eroticism in his work.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;Eroticism is a very dear subject to me,\u0026rdquo; Duchamp says, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s an animal thing that has so many facets\u0026hellip; that is pleasing to use as a tube of paint, so to speak, to inject in your production.\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; The third work doesn\u0026rsquo;t have a title. It consists of six slightly coloured, but transparent vases of cut glass. The vases are hanging on ropes, at the height of one\u0026rsquo;s neck, and are filled with a mixture of human and animal blood. In each vase stands a rose, respectively a white, a pink, a red, a yellow, an orange and a purple rose. Each vase is linked by a thin thread to a hunting knife that\u0026rsquo;s lying on the floor. There\u0026rsquo;s also a counterpart to this work with vases that are better-cut, hanging on golden ropes and linked to boning knives that are partly covered with dirt and fat.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The mixed blood in the vases has turned brown, just like the inside of the golden boxes that bear imprints of real hearts. The vases also make us think of the work \u0026lsquo;Couple\u0026rsquo;, that consists of coloured carafes with an elegant, white, feminine wine which has been poisoned with belladonna, and transparent carafes containing a sturdy red wine which has been poisoned with mandrake.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Leo Copers is a love poet. Love is seen as a deceitful fairy tale. It\u0026rsquo;s a fairy tale about roses and stylized hearts, but also about steel meat-hooks and cut-out hearts in nicely sculpted shrines; about hovering tables, glass cages and a sword kept in a block of clear ice. The fairy tale about love speaks of cheating, lying and hurting. You wake up from a dream and the knife you were dreaming about lies next to you on the pillow, covered with blood. The bed of petals on which you were sleeping has wilted and is already turning into brown putridity.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Leo Copers is also a man of materials, textures, techniques and precise finishing. His oeuvre shows a permanent twisting around of appearance and reality, genuineness and imitation. Whether it\u0026rsquo;s a line of fire on a river, a series of shining neon lamps on the bottom of a canal or a quickly turning white cloth that makes one think of Marilyn Monroe\u0026rsquo;s skirt blown upwards and at the same time frightens us because of the threatening sound of the motor, each time Copers is showing us perversions of authenticity and falsehood, that are put in front of one another like folding screens.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The large, glass cages are made of real glass, but the 1987 \u0026lsquo;Flower Vase\u0026rsquo; consists of silk flowers that have been collected in a cemetery. Some flowers look new, but others have become pale or dirty. This diversity makes the flowers look so real, that some people wondered how often the flowers had to be replaced.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The work \u0026ldquo;The Nightingale and the Eglantine\u0026rdquo;, that was created in 1980, shows us a rose bush that looks like a wild rose or eglantine. It also produces the music of a gipsy violin player imitating the song of a nightingale.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Since 1991 Leo Copers has been working on a vast piece called \u0026ldquo;1001 Nights\u0026rdquo;. It consists of 1001 preserving jars filled with roses in formalin. Each jar contains roses of a different variety. The artist got the idea to conserve roses when the owners of a famous Belgian crystal glass factory asked him whether he wanted to conceive a multiple for them. Copers, who had already made a crystal carillon for them, proposed to make crystal preserving jars with silver clasps and to conserve one rose in each jar.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;On the edge of kitsch,\u0026rdquo; Copers told me, \u0026ldquo;but slightly ironic as well, because of the preserving jar.\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Later this worked evolved into the wish to conserve one thousand rose varieties. The collecting of enough of all these roses required a search lasting several years. Finally, most of the roses were found in the major rose nurseries for roses of Belgium, France and Germany. People who will finally see parts of this majestic and domestic work of art could be shocked by its appearance. Nearly all the roses have lost their original colour and have turned brown. Actually they look like conserved onions. But then our eyes start getting used to the numerous varieties of these brown colours and we begin to notice remnants of the flower\u0026rsquo;s original colour and shape. We get caught in a kind of delicate aesthetics of decay.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;Tout casse, tout passe,\u0026rdquo; it reads on an etching by F\u0026eacute;licien Rops. I remember a picture from 1992 showing the first seventy preserving jars filled with roses. They were all put on a heavy table with sculpted feet and a luxurious tablecloth, in the middle of a lavishly decorated room with a beautiful carpet on a marvellous wooden floor, tiles on the chimney, etc. Everything speaks of durability, surrounding the enclosed wilting.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nMontagne de Miel, June 1st 1999\u003c/p\u003e\r\n"},{"locale":"ru","short_description":"","description":""},{"locale":"de","short_description":"","description":"\u003cp style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif,Arial,Verdana,\u0026amp;quot;trebuchet ms\u0026amp;quot;; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n__________\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nHans Theys\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cstrong\u003eLove, Roses and Blood\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nSome Words About the Work of Leo Copers\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026ldquo;The exhibition project for \u0026lsquo;1001 Nights\u0026rsquo; has been postponed till next year,\u0026rdquo; Leo Copers (\u0026deg;1947) tells me, \u0026lsquo;now I\u0026rsquo;m going to make a carpet of Cleopatra. I once read or heard that when Cleopatra received her future lover Anthony, she had a carpet made of rose petals that was 40 cm thick. I would like to show six sections of that carpet, six blocks of one square metre and 40 cm high. Each block would have the six principal colours of roses: white, pink, red, yellow, orange and purple. First I wanted to show these petals in glass boxes, but now I intend to fill crates without bottoms and then slowly lift them up in order to obtain six slightly collapsed heaps. This would at the same time produce a touch of decay\u0026hellip;\u0026rsquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; We talk about a work of art that consists of a solid table which is covered with a layer of dust in which the artist has written the word \u0026lsquo;Yromlice\u0026rsquo;.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;A lot of my work is based on the vanitas theme,\u0026rdquo; Leo Copers tells me, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s the most beautiful theme there is. I\u0026rsquo;ve never tried to invent a new pictorial theme myself. I think that\u0026rsquo;s impossible. Though one can visualise existing themes in a new or different way.\u0026rsquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif,Arial,Verdana,\u0026amp;quot;trebuchet ms\u0026amp;quot;; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Three works of art have been brought together for the current exhibition.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026lsquo;Spidertable II\u0026rsquo; is a golden table, almost two metres high, with eight differently sculpted feet. Under the table are very strong lamps that shine with increasing and decreasing intensity, so that the shadows of the feet, and hence the table itself, seem to move.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The second work is a wooden crate (approximately 40 x 50 cm) with the inscription \u0026lsquo;6609\u0026rsquo;. It contains some plastic bags and a skeleton. It also produces the voice of Marcel Duchamp, speaking about the importance of eroticism in his work.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;Eroticism is a very dear subject to me,\u0026rdquo; Duchamp says, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s an animal thing that has so many facets\u0026hellip; that is pleasing to use as a tube of paint, so to speak, to inject in your production.\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; The third work doesn\u0026rsquo;t have a title. It consists of six slightly coloured, but transparent vases of cut glass. The vases are hanging on ropes, at the height of one\u0026rsquo;s neck, and are filled with a mixture of human and animal blood. In each vase stands a rose, respectively a white, a pink, a red, a yellow, an orange and a purple rose. Each vase is linked by a thin thread to a hunting knife that\u0026rsquo;s lying on the floor. There\u0026rsquo;s also a counterpart to this work with vases that are better-cut, hanging on golden ropes and linked to boning knives that are partly covered with dirt and fat.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The mixed blood in the vases has turned brown, just like the inside of the golden boxes that bear imprints of real hearts. The vases also make us think of the work \u0026lsquo;Couple\u0026rsquo;, that consists of coloured carafes with an elegant, white, feminine wine which has been poisoned with belladonna, and transparent carafes containing a sturdy red wine which has been poisoned with mandrake.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Leo Copers is a love poet. Love is seen as a deceitful fairy tale. It\u0026rsquo;s a fairy tale about roses and stylized hearts, but also about steel meat-hooks and cut-out hearts in nicely sculpted shrines; about hovering tables, glass cages and a sword kept in a block of clear ice. The fairy tale about love speaks of cheating, lying and hurting. You wake up from a dream and the knife you were dreaming about lies next to you on the pillow, covered with blood. The bed of petals on which you were sleeping has wilted and is already turning into brown putridity.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Leo Copers is also a man of materials, textures, techniques and precise finishing. His oeuvre shows a permanent twisting around of appearance and reality, genuineness and imitation. Whether it\u0026rsquo;s a line of fire on a river, a series of shining neon lamps on the bottom of a canal or a quickly turning white cloth that makes one think of Marilyn Monroe\u0026rsquo;s skirt blown upwards and at the same time frightens us because of the threatening sound of the motor, each time Copers is showing us perversions of authenticity and falsehood, that are put in front of one another like folding screens.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The large, glass cages are made of real glass, but the 1987 \u0026lsquo;Flower Vase\u0026rsquo; consists of silk flowers that have been collected in a cemetery. Some flowers look new, but others have become pale or dirty. This diversity makes the flowers look so real, that some people wondered how often the flowers had to be replaced.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The work \u0026ldquo;The Nightingale and the Eglantine\u0026rdquo;, that was created in 1980, shows us a rose bush that looks like a wild rose or eglantine. It also produces the music of a gipsy violin player imitating the song of a nightingale.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Since 1991 Leo Copers has been working on a vast piece called \u0026ldquo;1001 Nights\u0026rdquo;. It consists of 1001 preserving jars filled with roses in formalin. Each jar contains roses of a different variety. The artist got the idea to conserve roses when the owners of a famous Belgian crystal glass factory asked him whether he wanted to conceive a multiple for them. Copers, who had already made a crystal carillon for them, proposed to make crystal preserving jars with silver clasps and to conserve one rose in each jar.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;On the edge of kitsch,\u0026rdquo; Copers told me, \u0026ldquo;but slightly ironic as well, because of the preserving jar.\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Later this worked evolved into the wish to conserve one thousand rose varieties. The collecting of enough of all these roses required a search lasting several years. Finally, most of the roses were found in the major rose nurseries for roses of Belgium, France and Germany. People who will finally see parts of this majestic and domestic work of art could be shocked by its appearance. Nearly all the roses have lost their original colour and have turned brown. Actually they look like conserved onions. But then our eyes start getting used to the numerous varieties of these brown colours and we begin to notice remnants of the flower\u0026rsquo;s original colour and shape. We get caught in a kind of delicate aesthetics of decay.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;Tout casse, tout passe,\u0026rdquo; it reads on an etching by F\u0026eacute;licien Rops. I remember a picture from 1992 showing the first seventy preserving jars filled with roses. They were all put on a heavy table with sculpted feet and a luxurious tablecloth, in the middle of a lavishly decorated room with a beautiful carpet on a marvellous wooden floor, tiles on the chimney, etc. Everything speaks of durability, surrounding the enclosed wilting.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nMontagne de Miel, June 1st 1999\u003c/p\u003e\r\n"},{"locale":"es","short_description":"","description":""},{"locale":"el","short_description":"","description":""}],"actors":[]}