Fried Fruit Gallery is pleased to present Purity Grove, an immersive installation by interdisciplinary artist Kyle Kogut. Exploring the satanic panic of the 80s and 90s and drawing upon the fear tactics he would hear in church as a child, Kogut’s work critiques the unique religiosity of America and the cyclical nature of moral panics.
Kogut presents works mimicking tree trunks that protrude out into space and act as frames to the drawings inside. Injected into these historic depictions of demons, witches, and the Massacre of the Innocents are portraits of real victims who were falsely convicted of satanic ritual abuse crimes.
Spray painted with cliché satanic symbols, under a canopy of black tees, and covered in leaves and debris, the space creates a wooded haunt where juveniles congregate. Police and “experts” constantly refer to these marginal spaces as sites where occult activity occurs, as seen in police training videos and day-time talk shows of the 80s and 90s. To enter the space, the viewer must dawn a black robe, joining the imagined satanist lurking in the shadows.
Kogut presents works mimicking tree trunks that protrude out into space and act as frames to the drawings inside. Injected into these historic depictions of demons, witches, and the Massacre of the Innocents are portraits of real victims who were falsely convicted of satanic ritual abuse crimes.
Spray painted with cliché satanic symbols, under a canopy of black tees, and covered in leaves and debris, the space creates a wooded haunt where juveniles congregate. Police and “experts” constantly refer to these marginal spaces as sites where occult activity occurs, as seen in police training videos and day-time talk shows of the 80s and 90s. To enter the space, the viewer must dawn a black robe, joining the imagined satanist lurking in the shadows.
