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Copers’ exhibition at the Palais des Beaux Arts examined the phenomena of visiting a museum. By shrouding all of the works in a gallery in velvet curtains, which had to be pulled back by the viewer, he injected a physical, active component into what often is a passive, predictable mental exercise. This book revolves around the same concept, taking a series of reproductions of Flemish paintings from the late 19th – early 20th century and encasing them within the confines of individual pages. These pages have to be opened by the reader, by cutting the paper that envelops the images. The classical subjects (women, nocturnal, landscape, genre scenes) thus become further removed from the tendency we have to relegate them into a safe, historical context. Ref.1

Leo Copers (°1947 Ghent) 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.Ref.3

Imschoot Uitgevers In 1987 publishing house Imschoot (Ghent- Belgium) started an exceptional series of artists’ books made by international artists (Giovanni Anselmo, Sol LeWitt, John Baldessari, Lawrence Weiner, Hanne Darboven, Robert Barry, Christian Boltanski, Dan Graham, a.o.). Ref.4
In addition to the regular softcover edition (500 to 1000 copies), a deluxe hardcover edition was also issued in a very limited edition, numbered and signed by the artists.
The publishing house ceased its activities in 2006.

References

• Ref.1: Imschoot, uitgevers Catalogue 1993-1994, Artists’ books
• Ref.2: IM-series The IM-series is a collection of artists’ books, published on the occasion of the exhibition series “Affinités Sélectives” at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, organized by Bernard Marcadé. The artists were given complete freedom to develop their project, not necessarily matching their exhibition. A constant format of 14,8 x 21 cms. was adopted.
• Ref.3: Muhka
• Ref.4: Johan Pas (Een essay door -), Het kunstenaarsboek in België: de voorzet tot een geschiedenis., Kunstenpunt