TÓT, Endre
Gladness and Rain

A 24-page risograph-printed and hand-stamped publication that reproduces full size facsimiles of many of Endre Tót’s printed, typed, stamped, and mailed works from the 1970s and 80s, along with an essay by Darling Green, and an interview with Tót – translated into English for the first time.

A challenger of the academic and artistic establishment of Hungary from the beginning, Tót initially rose to prominence as an abstract painter but denounced the medium for what he termed his “Zero Tendency,” a conceptual turn that began with the publication of his artists’ book My Unpainted Canvases (1971). This shift ushered in a prolific phase in Tót’s career, and brought him into contact with international Mail Art and Fluxus networks, to whom he dispatched enigmatic “0” letters meant to befuddle the censors’ ever watchful eyes. Tót’s artistic production from this period also included video and photo graphic performance work, artists’ books, postcards, and typewritten documents, which were often covertly produced and defied the censorship of Soviet-controlled Hungary with humor and absurdity.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Endre Tót: Gladness and Rain at Printed Matter, NY, in 2021.

Published by Printed Matter, 2021
Monographs / Documents / Book Culture