New works by Kyle Kogut
Kitchen Table Gallery
1853 N. Howard St. Philadelphia PA 19122
Opening May 19th and 20th, 2017, 6-9 pm
Kitchen Table Gallery is pleased to present How Many Demons Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?, a solo exhibition of new works by Philadelphia based artist Kyle Kogut. Opening receptions will be held May 19th and 20th and will be on view through the end of the month. The exhibition builds upon the artists’ interdisciplinary practice with new drawings, sculptures, and a performance documentation.
Kogut’s work explores nihilist philosophies through the lens of an Americana working class identity. Contemplating a futility of labor, Kogut translates the banality of life, earthly worries, and anxieties towards death through an occult guise of personal symbology. The son of a mechanic and raised Roman Catholic, Kogut channels autobiographical narratives occupied by a cast of characters both imagined and real, confronting the pointlessness of life. Situating the role of the artist as storyteller and godhead, the works present a psychodrama of toil,
excess, and ritual. Kogut’s work often quotes art historical masters such as Albrecht Dürer and William Blake, while citing practices of traditional occultism and images of contemporary horror.
The exhibition title references the medieval question “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?”, a genuine inquiry to quantify how much space spiritual beings would occupy. It’s meaning then shifted to dismiss medieval scholasticism and is currently regarded as a metaphor for wasting time debating topics of no practical value. How does one chose to spend their fleeting moments on this planet and who gets to partake in their vices and focus their will?
About the Artist
Kyle Kogut is an artist working in drawing, sculpture, textile, film, performance and installation. Kogut graduated with a MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art multidisciplinary program at MICA in 2016. He was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1990 and received his BFA from Tyler School of Art in 2012. His work has been included in group shows nationally including Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Washington D.C. and Baltimore. Kogut has had solo and two person exhibitions in Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia. His work has been published in international publications Juxtapoz Magazine and Studio Visit Magazine. Kogut has been included in shows reviewed by Hyperallergic, Bmore Art, and City Paper, Baltimore. Kogut recently moved back to Philadelphia and is teaching at Tyler School of Art.