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Dezider Tóth

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This play is a reflection on the (im)possibility of accepting diversity and the other. The fragmented body of the neoplasm—the fruit of unstable conditions—overcomes barriers, loves and denies itself and others, wanders around, forgetting its profession. It frequently and with pleasure divides, goes through dangerous palpation, questions the possibility of contact with the experience of the other. Poorly brought up but very successful, it invites us to a trans-species transition.

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Tóth worked with cast-off library volumes – cutting, gluing, painting – in an installation that both examines and subverts the written word. He grouped books, arranged according to size, into pairs, threes, fours, and fives. He then painted them black and glued them shut.

Artist Statement

I group discarded books of various authors . . . into pairs, threes, fours, and fives, and on the maps that this makes, with concealed information inside, I paint in black a space for a new meaning. Black icons of emptiness.

In the 1950s, Czechoslovakia's streets were full of words painted on banners with political slogans. These were the cruelest years of communist totalitarianism. The 1950s are the period of my childhood. For me, they are the most beautiful part of my life. Can one bear a grudge against one's childhood just because it took place against a background of lies?

When

Artists of Central & Eastern Europe: October 29, 1995 - July 31, 1996

Where

500 Sampsonia, 4th Floor

About The Artist

"Dezider Tóth has been deeply involved with the word and its relationship to the nonverbal. He creates optical poems that express the silences that dominated his culture and his own life. Tóth's childhood paralleled the cruelest years of communist totalitarianism in which Czechoslovakia's streets were full of painted banners with political slogans. During this time he lived in a strict monastic atmosphere dominated by forbidden Catholic rituals. Believers secretly gathered at his parent's home for the blessing of grain, the last rites, processions, pilgrimages, and baptisms. These events left a profound impression on him, and he was greatly influenced by liturgical texts. As a child, he was fascinated with the power of the written word and voraciously read poetry, novels, and newspapers." - Geraldine Ondrizek

Tóth worked with cast-off library volumes – cutting, gluing, painting – in an installation that both examines and subverts the written word. He grouped books, arranged according to size, into pairs, threes, fours, and fives. He then painted them black and glued them shut.

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