Katie Butler

Region: MFA Annual


These politically charged paintings of lavish dinner scenes provide a critical commentary on the financial disparities in American society. Luxurious foods and fine china, juxtaposed with run-of-the-mill gingham tablecloths, challenge the disconnect between the wealthy, privileged individuals in power and the average citizen they claim to represent. With superficial notions of “bread and butter issues” at the center of campaigns, the dinner table becomes a metaphorical stage for political theater. Objects symbolic of wealth, greed, and political power sit amongst the ostentatious displays of food, serving as reminders of those who get a seat at the table and how the system is designed to benefit them at the expense of others. Skewed perspectives and exaggerated shifts in scale emphasize the inaccessibility of such spaces to the average working class American.