Meant to elicit quick, intuitive responses, Short Answer Sunday will introduce readers to a wide variety of artists, educators, writers, curators, art enthusiasts and art adjacent individuals whose inclinations I admire. With the intent of getting to know the person behind the artwork as well generating new avenues to artistic discovery, participants may respond with only a few words or an artist’s name, always with the opportunity to elaborate if they wish!
This week I’m excited to share a Short Answer Sunday with Norfolk-based artist and professor, Kyle Kogut. Kyle is an interdisciplinary artist whose work often takes the form of drawing and sculpture. His work blends high- and lowbrow cultural motifs (culled from advertising, art history, music, movies, etc.) and merges complex and loaded references, conflating symbols of religion + the occult with American consumer culture (plenty of dark humor, too). Kyle’s work possesses an intense visual power, developed through a devotion to craft, an attention to detail that can only be described as totally killer (academic term) with an attentive integration of form + meaning. Though the combination of these tactics, he renders the familiar uncanny and asks broader questions about how we (individually, nationally, globally) assign value, cultivate belief systems and mediate desire.
I came to Kyle’s work through Instagram, but we also have many mutual art acquaintances across various US cities such as Detroit, Baltimore and Richmond. One kernel of motivation behind Short Answer Sunday is that I (and you!) get recommendations from people who are doing cool things and then I (we!) get to read/watch/listen/view whatever each subject suggests. This is always exciting whether I know someone well or tangentially. I love all of Kyle’s responses—I learned about several new-to-me artists and was prompted to reread John Berger’s Ways of Seeing for the first time in (roughly) two decades. For more about Kyle Kogut, head to his website and follow him on Instagram. Get to it!
xo, Lauren
Name: Kyle Kogut
Occupation: Assistant Professor of Drawing
Astrological data: Gemini
Hometown: Kennett Square, PA
Current location: Norfolk, VA
Other than Instagram, how do you find new-to-you artists?
Residencies have been an incredible resource for creating new connections. I also love when someone shows me an artist I’ve never heard of.
An artwork that makes you laugh?
Misanthrope by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. I love a good weird little dude.
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An artwork that makes you cry?
Its hard to make me cry, but Wind from the Sea by Andrew Wyeth comes close. Wyeth is from my hometown, and while this work was based on his home in Maine, it retains the way he paints Pennsylvania and perfectly captures the melancholy of the American Northeast. I’m very nostalgic for all of Wyeth’s work as his was the first art I can consciously remember seeing as a child.
Most underrated artist?
James Castle. He is truly one of a kind and his work is much weirder than expected.
An artwork that you’d like to live inside for a week?
I’d love to meet some of Leonora Carrington’s creatures and wonder through her landscapes.
An artist whose work you can’t stop thinking about?
Robert Gober’s work is always on my mind.
An artwork that feels like a warm hug?
Lying with the Wolf by Kiki Smith
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What’s your favorite characteristic in an artwork?
When a work is enigmatic and continues to ask questions the longer I sit with it.
Erotic artwork? (Ed. note: this is a multiple choice question)
Yes: ✅
What’s an artwork that doesn’t look like art?
Robert Smithson’s Mirror Displacement: Indoors
What’s an artwork that you suspect that you shouldn’t like, but you do (guilty pleasure)?
Much of Richard Prince’s work frustrates me but I’m happy that he’s doing it.
What’s an artwork that you secretly hate?
Cezanne does nothing for me.
Most insane art piece?
Do Ho Suh’s large scale installations are hard to wrap your head around and a wonder to explore.
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Fav museum or gallery in your current location?
The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA is a wonderful museum.
Last exhibition you saw irl?
I just spent a month in upstate New York and had a chance to see Modus Operandi at The School by Jack Shainman Gallery in Kinderhook and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by James Esber and Jane Fine at the Re-Institute in Millerton.
An artwork that packs a spiritual punch?
Mike Kelley’s Ectoplasm Photographs.
An artwork that you’d like to see before you die?
The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch
What art material do you love to nerd out on?
Because I approach all of my work through drawing, I’m drawn to any medium that expands or challenges the boundaries of what drawing can be.
What was the last thing that you listened to in the studio?
I’m listening to a lot of dungeon synth specifically Warlock Corpse (Труп Колдуна).
What’s a book that changed your life?
I read Ways of Seeing by John Berger my freshman year of college and it had a huge impact on my understanding of art.
What song, book, podcast or film do you think everyone should know about?
Dead Man directed by Jim Jarmusch.
❤
Kyle Kogut (b. 1990 Philadelphia, PA) is an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in drawing and sculpture. Raised a devout Roman Catholic and the son of an auto mechanic, Kogut's work uses the symbols of the Occult and Christianity, art historical motifs, icons of pop culture, and the ubiquitous iconography of brand logos to dissect the politics of American zealotry, myth, and despair. Kogut graduated with an MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art multidisciplinary program at MICA in 2016. He received his BFA from Tyler School of Art in 2012. His work has been included in group shows nationally and has had solo and two person exhibitions in Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, College Park MD, Detroit, Richmond, New York City, and Wilmington NC. Kogut was a member of FJORD in Philadelphia, attended residencies at the Anderson at VCU in 2019, Wassaic Project in 2022, and ChaNorth and Vermont Studio Center in 2026. He currently resides in Norfolk, VA serving as an Assistant Professor of Drawing and Foundations at Old Dominion University.
For more about Kyle Kogut, go to his website and find him on Instagram.
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