Endre Tót / Endre Tót

"In characterising Endre Tót's career as an artist, which spans nearly five decades, Zero and Joy are undoubtedly the first two concepts to be mentioned. Zero, as nothing, signifies absence or non existence, while Joy is a metaphor for the current situation, for the momentariness of the here and now - for presence, and, in a broader sense las attested to by the Tót's works) existence itself. From a logical perspective, at the two extremes of human existence, we find assertion and denial. Zero and Joy as ideas first appeared in Endre Tót's art in 1971. Having abandoned painting at the beginning of the decade, the artist's first Joy-piece was a cardboard sheet in postcard format bearing the sentence: "I am glad that I could have this sentence printed." This seemingly insignificant piece - which could be regarded as representative neither in terms of its size, nor in terms of its medium - then became the prototype for all subsequent Joy-pieces, which always incorporate as their fundamental component a statement that starts with the words "I am glad if/ when.. (appearing on the work itself, or in its title). This simple little print out, whose sole objective is to convey the artist's joy in creating his artwork, is an ironic artistic gesture aimed at criticising the socialist dictatorship of the 1970s." extract from the essay by Orsola Hegedus