Endre Tót
Layout Painting I.
Artist
Endre Tót
(1937, Sümeg), Hungarian
Original Title
Layout Painting I.
Date1988
Mediumacrylic on canvas
Dimensions100 × 136 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionEndre Tót is a Hungarian conceptual artist with close ties to the Fluxus movement as well as a pioneer of European mail art. His artistic practice is permeated by themes of absence, reduction, and the question of freedom. From the 1970s onward, his work has been defined by inscriptions, drawings, and texts. Among his most iconic works are the series Zero and Total J0Ys. The use of the number zero, appearing both as a stand-alone figure and as a serially repeated number, is a distinguishing element of his work. Zero (stylized as “zer0”) is also a mainstay of his demonstrations, symbolizing censorship and a support for artistic freedom. Mail art allowed Tót to breach the isolation resulting from political censorship in Hungary without geographically leaving the country and allowed him to communicate with numerous artists and professionals based abroad. Despite never explicitly mentioning censorship, his archive of symbols is dominated by nonsense and thus indecipherability. After emigrating to West Germany, he began applying this symbolism to happenings in public space, through which he spotlighted his role as an artist and incorporated viewers into the work. In the second half of the 1980s, he returned to painting, building on the conceptual approach to the medium of the book developed in the 1970s (e.g., My Unpainted Canvases, 1971) as well as on his previous conceptual articulations of nothingness and absence through painting.
The series of conceptual paintings titled Layout (1988) thematizes communication and its devices by using the layout of pages and the editing of images seen in newspapers and magazines as a basis for Tót’s paintings. In this approach, he incorporates texts, images, and headlines from printed media into new contexts. The Layout paintings remain highly relevant as they demonstrate the influence of everyday media on our visual surroundings.
Endre Tót (*1937, Sümeg) has been living in Cologne since 1978. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest but was expelled because of his refusal to adhere to the doctrine of socialist realism. Subsequently, he studied the applied arts and began his artistic career, producing works in the vein of art informel. In the 1970s, he stopped painting and began exploring conceptual art. In 1971, he was invited to partake in the Paris Biennale; he also mailed his work to exhibitions in Poland. In the late 1970s, he received the DAAD art scholarship for residency in West Germany, where he exhibited at René Block’s gallery and developed ties with artists from the Fluxus movement. In 1980, he permanently moved to Cologne. In 1982 he went to New York for the Young Fluxus exhibition at the invitation of Artists Space. His first retrospective exhibition was held at Cologne’s Ludwig Museum in 1999. His work is included in the collections of numerous institutions such as the MoMA in New York, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, and the National Gallery Prague. He is a laureate of several awards including the Honorary Artist Membership from the Whitechapel Gallery in London (1990), the Munkácsy Mihály Award (Budapest, 2005), the Honorary Artist Membership from the MoMA in New York City (2006), and the Kossuth Award (Budapest, 2008).
The series of conceptual paintings titled Layout (1988) thematizes communication and its devices by using the layout of pages and the editing of images seen in newspapers and magazines as a basis for Tót’s paintings. In this approach, he incorporates texts, images, and headlines from printed media into new contexts. The Layout paintings remain highly relevant as they demonstrate the influence of everyday media on our visual surroundings.
Endre Tót (*1937, Sümeg) has been living in Cologne since 1978. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest but was expelled because of his refusal to adhere to the doctrine of socialist realism. Subsequently, he studied the applied arts and began his artistic career, producing works in the vein of art informel. In the 1970s, he stopped painting and began exploring conceptual art. In 1971, he was invited to partake in the Paris Biennale; he also mailed his work to exhibitions in Poland. In the late 1970s, he received the DAAD art scholarship for residency in West Germany, where he exhibited at René Block’s gallery and developed ties with artists from the Fluxus movement. In 1980, he permanently moved to Cologne. In 1982 he went to New York for the Young Fluxus exhibition at the invitation of Artists Space. His first retrospective exhibition was held at Cologne’s Ludwig Museum in 1999. His work is included in the collections of numerous institutions such as the MoMA in New York, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, and the National Gallery Prague. He is a laureate of several awards including the Honorary Artist Membership from the Whitechapel Gallery in London (1990), the Munkácsy Mihály Award (Budapest, 2005), the Honorary Artist Membership from the MoMA in New York City (2006), and the Kossuth Award (Budapest, 2008).
