Born: 1937 in Sümeg, Hungarian

Lives: Cologne, Germany

In 1958, Endre Tot 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 60s, Tot gained a reputation as a painter of art informal. In 1970 he stopped painting and declared a state of zero, which was to develop great significance for his future art.

From now on, nothingness and absence on the one hand should form the two poles of his creative work. He created black surfaces that represented absent painting and challenged the viewer with their titles, as well as book objects in which the text was made almost illegible by countless zeros written over it. On the other hand, Tot explained in numerous print materials and pictures: "We are glad if we are happy". 

In order to evade the Hungarian postal censor, Tot traveled to Belgrade secretly by train and posted his Mail art material to the West there. 1972/73 Tots works were shown at the Fluxus show exhibition that toured several cities in England. In 1976, he was a guest of the gallery Ecart in Geneva, founded by John M. Armleder, where he realized his first street actions. Tot was a guest of the DAAD, Berlin in 1978. Since 1980, he has lived in Cologne.

Art: Book-Objects, Actions, Mail Art Actions, Drawings