These pieces indicate Endre Tót’s shift from painting towards conceptual art and new media (mail art, xerox, action, rubber stamp), as well as the appearance of the “ideas” ? Joy, zer0, Rain ? that define his oeuvre.
They also allow the viewer to observe the process of the artist’s inclusion into the international network. From among the textual statements and concept works which were decisive in this process, the exhibition includes pieces such as I am glad I was able to print this sentence (I was glad to print this sentence)from 1971, or The smile is somewhere here from 1972.
The former is Tót’s first work executed by printing, created illegally due to the censorship of the time, and is also the first piece of the Joy-series. The latter is an early manifestation of the problem of absence which has become distinctive for Tót, in the same way as in the case of his first artist book My Unpainted Canvases (1971), and the 1974 Night Visit to the National Gallery, the issue of presence and absence is pivotal.
In addition to these two publications that are now classics of the genre, the exhibition presents a rich and wide-ranging selection from Tót’s artist books; from catalog-like, numbered, samizdat prints made in Hungary, to artist books published by major foreign avantgarde printing houses by the mid-seventies as well as the two books produced by Rainer Verlag in 1981 (Book of an Extremely Glad Artist and Very Special Drawings).
Among these, the exhibition also showcases some unique pieces, such as a notebook that preserves Tót’s rubber stamps made between 1971 and 1976.
In the interview specifically made for the occasion of the show, Endre Tót himself talks about the role of printing technology in his works as well as the history of making artist books. In connection with the exhibition, DEPOSIT zine will publish a zine in the form of 150 numbered copies with reproductions of a selection of works presented at the show.
The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between acb Gallery, ISBN Book+Gallery and Neon Gallery.