Very Special Joys – Retrospective exhibition of Endre Tót 1971–2011
2012. Jun. 03. - 2012. Sep. 16.
At the heart of Endre Tót’s art are opposites: the simultaneous inverse of a simplified, sweeping statement (I am happy to write normally…) and its simultaneous inverse (I am happy to write abnormally). A rejection of traditional artistic tools (individual painting, sculpture, etc.), yet an aspiration to museum presentation. An exploration of the banal, everyday phenomena of life and at the same time a thematisation of art that is detached from life and the basic operating principles of the institutions that run it. The drastic elimination of imagery, of the individualistic signature in art, and the constant verbal and visual presence of the artist’s ego in his works. In parallel with the visual representation of absence, absence, nothingness, the program of self-reference and self-representation. The large-scale exhibition presented the early conceptual “ideas”, photographs, artist’s books, mail-art works, zer0s, which can also be associated with fluxus, as well as the latest conceptually inspired panel paintings created since the late 1980s: elements of a uniquely consistent oeuvre, preserving its freshness and humour, the works of a Hungarian artist who is also recognized on the international scene. The exhibition, entitled Very Special Joys, summarised the achievements of the past decades and the constant repetition of what has become Tót’s own. Endre Tót’s art, in its ironic, seemingly light-hearted way, questions the institutional system of political power, everyday communication and art. In this way, he presents a distinctive neo-avant-garde model for current artistic trends.
Curators: Kukla Krisztián, Lukács Nóra
Artist: Tót Endre