Biography

Endre Tót was born in Sümeg, Hungary in 1937. In 1958 he began to study at the Academy of Art, where he rapidly came into conflict with the prevalent doctrine of Socialist Realism and was subsequently expelled. Following this, he studied at the Budapest College of Applied Arts.

In the 1960s, Tót gained a reputation as a painter of art informel. In 1970, he stopped painting. In order to break out of his artistic and political isolation, Tót contacted other artists through Mail Art actions and thus came into contact with a lot of Fluxus artists like Robert Filliou, Dick Higgins, Ken Friedman and Wolf Vostell. In 1972/73, Tót’s works were shown at the Fluxshoe exhibition that toured several cities in England.

In 1976, he was a guest of the gallery Écart in Geneva, founded by John M. Armleder, where he realised his first street actions. Tót was a guest of the DAAD’s Berlin Artists’ Programme in 1978. Since 1980, he has lived in Cologne. He calls himself an “illegitimate child of Fluxus” and is best known for his “I’m glad if I can…” actions.

Projects

1974 TOTal questionsby TOT

Literature (selection)

Tót, Endre: 1. Heft der Edition Hundertmark Köln 1974.
Tót, Endre: Katalog Fluxus East, Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin 2007, S. 269.

Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endre_Tot
Tót, Endre: interview by Marta Smolinska, CoCAin 2/2013 (en), p 42 – 51
Mail Artists Index: http://mailartists.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/endre-tot