Stamps 1971-83

Cremlingen/Weddel: Designbuch Verlag, Bernd Löbach publisher, 1983.

Title associated with the series: "Schriftenreihe der Galerie für Visuelle Erlebnisse Cremlingen", Volume 6

92 unnumbered pages, softcover, glued square-back binding, 210 x 140 mm; photocopied on one side only, printed in black and white.

Edition of 150 copies with 3 original red, brown and green ink stamps, signed by the artist in pencil.

Page 3 is the justification page. It states:

Dieser Band erscheint in einer Auflage von 150 signierten Exemplaren mit drei Original-Stempelabdrücken ( This volume is published in 150 signed copies with three original stamp imprints).

Translation of the text by Bernd Löbach, published at the beginning of the book, about Endre Tót's stamps:

About stamps by Endre Tót

Today, stamps have become an essential part of mail art. Many artists now use stamps to print messages in the form of images and/or text on their mail. Messages are easily reproduced using stamps. In art, there have always been artists who used stamps in their works or correspondence. What was new in the early 70s was that artists were using stamps as an exclusive and important means of communication. Endre Tót, who was born in Hungary in 0000 and lived there until 1978, is one of these artists. He lived in Berlin from 1978 to 1979 and in Cologne since 1980.

Endre Tót is certainly the first artist from Eastern Europe to have made stamps his main means of expression. The production and use of stamps posed problems for Endre Tot due to the political situation in Hungary.

All planned printed products had to be submitted for approval, and there was censorship. After requesting the manufacture of a simple address stamp, interested parties usually had to wait a very long time for it to be approved. It was impossible to get other stamps approved. A friend, Endre, a printer, smuggled lead type out of a print shop, the kind used in newspaper printing to make up the headlines. Thus, in 1971, he illegally created his own stamp. Today's famous stamp: I AM GLAD IF I CAN STAMP Je suis content si je peux tamponner.

In this text, we find the whole issue of the acquisition and use of the means of production by private individuals in a socialist country. In addition, the sincere joy of being able to manage simple things autonomously.

All the stamps Endre Tot made in Budapest were composed from lead letters for relief printing processes. The disadvantage of these stamps was that they only produced medium-light prints. Between 1971 and 1978, Endre Tót lived in isolation.

The only means of communication with artists abroad was by post. Tot feels that he "owes" the Budapest post office a great deal. During this period, he sent several thousand letters and postcards, almost all of them with stamp imprints. Endre Tót no longer knows what happened to these letters. Mail art is the art of the moment and of surprises, which are not always kept for long. There are certainly many recipients who have collected Tót's mailings, but it's certain that most mail pieces have become part of our throwaway culture. Almost all the stamps created in Budapest were left by Endre Tót when he left the country.

At the 1971 Paris Biennale, Endre Tót showed his work Zero for the first time in the Mail Art section. Tót organized his first stamping action in 1972 at the Foksal Gallery in Warsaw under the title "I'm glad if I can stamp in Warsaw too".

Similar actions also took place in 1973 at the Blackburn Museum in England during the international FLUXshoe event, and in 1980 at Stempelplaats in Amsterdam. During these actions, Tót would stamp for hours on white paper and then throw the stamped sheets to the ground. By the end of the action, there were several hundred sheets of paper around his table, each bearing the same phrase: "I'm glad if I can stamp" Tót : - My bureaucratic stamping ironizes the pointlessness of administrative activity - not directly, of course - you know what I mean?

Endre Tot's "professional" tampons have been appearing in the West, mainly since 1978. But he has a different relationship with them. Something has been lost from the early 70s, when he lived in Budapest under particular political conditions. This kind of thing is not easily transferable or reproducible in other life contexts.

In 1974, 'Zeropost' stamps appeared from Edition Howeg in Hinwill/Switzerland, 100 sheets of 49 stamps in black. In 1976, a second edition appeared in green. The official post office "recognized" Endre Tót's Zeropost so that in 1974, an envelope mailed to Krakow with only a 'Zeropost' stamp was cancelled and delivered without the addressee having to pay extra. Zeropost stamps were presented at the first world exhibition of artists' stamps, 'Artist's Stamps and Stamp Images', at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, in 1974. Today, it's remembered as a historic show.

Zeropost' is one of Endre Tót's 'zero texts' and should be understood as a reference to impeded communication. Zero is a symbol of the times in which Tót lived. In this volume, all the stamps and postage stamps created by Endre Tót are shown on a white background - his repertoire. There are also the stamps he edited with other artists and those dedicated to him by other artists. Secondly, the stamps are always depicted in a concrete environment, as Tót used them in certain contexts. Stamps are the means used by Endre Tót to formulate his statements of everyday life. Letters, envelopes, documents, drawings, collages or postcards are the media he uses to convey messages. It only remains to say a few words about the content Endre Tot conveys. There are several main themes to which the works can be attributed:- Gladness/gaieté- Zéros/nuls- Rain/pluie- Loneliness / Solitude

Endre Tót expresses his small daily pleasures by formulating simple phrases accordingly: "I'm happy when I can stamp" "I'm always happy when I can spray cologne on myself". "I'm always happy on days when nothing happens to me except waking up in the morning and going to bed at night". "Documents make me happy/documents make me calm". These statements, which may seem a little silly in isolation, take on a deeper meaning when found in the environment. The marriage certificate is stamped 'Documents make me glad', because we live in a time when the context of nostalgia often becomes more important than the context itself. A bank statement with a balance of DM 0.00 is stamped by Endre Tót with his "zerOs make me calm" stamp. This reflects his financial situation - what will tomorrow bring? His loneliness is documented by various stamps: 'Endre & Tót, we are so lonely', 'Matterhorn & me, we are so lonely', Empire State Building & me, we are so lonely. But surely these statements about loneliness should not be seen as solely personified, but as an indication of a widespread problem. One approach to alleviating the loneliness experienced in the big city is contact with other artists through the mail. It's in this context that the stamp 'I write you because you are there and I am here' should be understood. In Endre Tót's simple sentences, there are still many profound aspects to be discovered about our social cohabitation.

I'd like to conclude this little essay with a very personal remark, linked to TOT: "I'm very happy when I see a stamp by Endre Tót.""

*Or Endre Tót had this stamp made in Switzerland, through his friend, the Swiss writer of Hungarian and Slovenian origin, Ilma Rakuza.