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KATIE BUTLER: POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE
January 6 - February 18, 2023 -
Referencing trickle-down economics, this painting employs reverse perspective to illustrate the distorted economic structure and resulting financial inequities of such policies.
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In this painting, a lavish display of seafood and caviar sit on a table top in the upper register of the composition. The table winds down to the very bottom of the canvas, diminishing in scale, and ending with a modest checkered tablecloth and two chairs - a nod to the impracticality and inaccessibility of such luxuries to the average working class American.
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In light of the upcoming anniversary of the January 6th Insurrection, which coincides with the opening reception of Pomp and Circumstance, Butler’s paintings take on a new significance. Like the sobering attacks on the Capitol Building, which saw the endangerment of democracy, the US Constitution, and a working justice system, Butler’s works similarly signal the fragility of seemingly axiomatic pillars of society that one often takes for granted.
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"The Food Chain" relates the economic hierarchy of contemporary American society to the food chain, questioning who gets to feast, who has to clean up the mess, and who is really picking up the tab.
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"Old money" examines the accumulation of money, often inherited and bolstered by power, and how those systems contribute to a broadening wealth gap in American society.
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Katie Butler's NYC debut solo show listed as a MUST SEE in Art Forum.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
Katie Butler is a painter based in Akron, Ohio. Her allegorical still life paintings provide critical commentary on the financial disparities in American society. Recent exhibitions include the Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI; Tchotchke Gallery, New York, NY; Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, MA; Hashimoto Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA; Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland, OH. Butler received her BFA from the University of Akron in 2017 and her MFA from Kent State University in 2021.