Marlene Dumas on Jan Hoet
Jan Hoet’s dynamism was – and is – wonderful! He was all concentrated energy and passion. His face moved. His body moved. He would move the world for art: box, flirt and lie, whatever it took, because he still believed that art was worth it. But also that life was worth it. He believed this even more strongly than the artists with whom he worked.
Many after him tried to make another show like Chambres d’Amis but did not succeed, because they were not really concerned with people who were not interested in art. He was. Nor did they really love the places such people came from. He did.
You can’t make a good exhibition in another’s house if you don’t enjoy both art and the other.
Jan Hoet | Passages. First published as Jan Hoet 1936-2014 in Artforum, Summer 2014, p.91; and included Marlene Dumas, Sweet Nothings. Notes and Texts | On Others, second edition (revised and expanded) Koenig Books London, 2014 [included in its original form – in Artforum the text was edited – and with the title Jan Hoet – Passages].