*JFO: Jean-François Octave
photo: JFO par MMCO circa 1960
Opening Thursday September 12, from 6pm to 9pm
Exhibition on until November 9, 2024.
…this exhibition, MMCO and myself had always wanted to make it happen, we were talking about it often and finally we didn’t have the time.
Both artist brothers, together… How to imagine this exhibition today, now that he’s gone?
To not betray Marc or to betray him a tiny bit? To not handle his images, his words, or maybe to do so? And above all, to try to preserve his humor, his poetics, his [removed]; To play, indeed! And myself, how can I co-exist?
Finally, this exhibition ended up existing in 2018. At the same time, [removed] offered me to do something with the two brothers, MMCO+JFO… Time passed, then we talked about it again, and here we are, Marc’s series “ÊTRE”, …and me, ÊTRE” around “ÊTRE”… “L’expo qui n’a jamais eu lieu (suite)”
Jean-François Octave 2018-2024
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JFO (Jean-François Octave) was born in 1955 in Arlon. He lives and works in Brussels.
He is a designer, painter and architect. After studying architecture at the Institut Saint-Luc and then at La Cambre, he began working for the magazine Soldes – Fin de serie, before making covers for Les Disques du Crépuscule / Factory Benelux and posters for Plan K concerts (Joy Division, Young Marble Giants, A Certain ratio, Tuxedomoon).
He started painting in the 1980s and became a figure of the belgian punk scene with his publications, fanzines and object-books.
He represented Belgium at the Venice Biennale in 1986. Since then he was also drawn to art in the public space and scenography.
MMCO (Marc Octave) was born in 1948 in Arlon and died in 2002 in Brussels. A discreet designer, even secret in certain respects, his very life seems an illustration of the life of an artist even though from the dawn of his career he enjoyed recognition and constant attention from the Belgian contemporary art world. This is evidenced by his numerous exhibitions, his publications and the impressive number of pieces acquired by the Ministry of the French Community, as well as by the National Bank, among [removed];
Friend of the painters Filip Denis and Walter Swennen, who all were friends with Marcel Broodthaers during their apprenticeship years, MMCO traced his path, always truant, between popular imagery and unbridled poetry.
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