Pure is an extremely graphic and controversial magazine created by Peter Sotos.

In 1984, while attending the Art Institute of Chicago, Sotos began producing Pure, notable as the first zine dedicated to serial killer lore. Much of the text and pictures in Pure were photocopied images from major newspapers and other print media. Sotos also used a photocopy from a magazine of child pornography as the cover of issue #2 of Pure. In 1986 this cover led to his arrest and charges of obscenity and possession of child pornography. The charges of obscenity were dropped, but Sotos eventually was found guilty of the possession charge, and was given a suspended sentence and a fine. Sotos was the first person in the United States ever to be charged for owning child pornography.

In Pure, Sotos often takes a vehemently pro-criminal, anti-victim stance, berating the victims and applauding killers, mass murderers and sadists as the "heroes" of the magazine. Despite the efforts of apologists to put forth an interpretation of Sotos as social critic, the views he puts forth in Pure are trenchantly misogynistic, racist, pro-Nazi and champion a form of sadism modelled very closely on the the writings of the Marquis de Sade. Sotos has not disavowed these views in his interviews, and has repeated them in his other works. Besides Sotos' writings, the magazine also includes pictures and newspaper clippings relevant to the crimes discussed. Against the apologia raised in his defence, Sotos himself in an interview with Void Books made the following comment: 'There are those that want me to be seen as a deconstructive commentator or jobbing artist that tries to point out the ugly hypocrisies of contemporary culture. Picking out the prurience and then explaining it to you. I'm not denying that my work may do that. But it is not a focus or something I'm particularly interested in.' Furthermore, Sotos describes his writing not as critique, but as 'pornography.'

External links

• Scans of first two issues of Pure

Transgressive art