Girl Dinner

Annabelle Buck, Katie Butler, Deb Koo, and Emily Whynott

November 1 - December 29, 2024
907 Christian Street, Philadelphia PA 19147

Opening Reception: Friday, November 1, 2024

Blah Blah is pleased to present Girl Dinner, an examination of sacrifice, growth, and glutton through the depiction of everyday scenes and indulgent spreads. Each artist uses food as a point of entry, from the deeply personal to the culturally charged, allowing viewers to survey their own associations with these themes. 

Emily Whynott explores how food can be used to forge connection and prompt conversation through her ceramic work, drawing parallels between her sculptural practice and the process of food preparation. Whynott’s cake sculptures, adorned with unlikely ingredients, speak to the tension between intention, devotion, and socially-acceptable outcomes, particularly those surrounding domestic femininity. 

Deb Koo’s paintings serve as a means of recalling, reflecting upon, and romanticizing some of her fondest childhood memories, which revolved around dessert. Inspired by ordinary settings and mundane objects, these idealized still lifes serve as a bridge between Koo’s past and future, evoking nostalgia and allowing her to process her entry into parenthood. 

Katie Butler uses still-life painting as a device for interrogating the relationship between money and power and criticizing the imbalances of our political and economic systems. Butler’s work both visually mirrors and ideologically subverts the opulent Dutch still-life paintings of the 17th century, utilizing food as a symbol of luxury, exploitation, and corporate greed. Her depictions of extravagant meals with distorted perspective simultaneously attract and repel the viewer, urging them to look closely at who benefits from these excesses and at whose expense. 

Annabelle Buck’s work addresses the relationship between humanity and nature, a tension rendered visceral through her play with light and shadow and use of food and flora as emblems of sustenance and harmony. Her compositions create an ethereal world where the familiar borders on the surreal, welcoming meditation on the interconnectedness of our ecosystem. 

Together, these artists offer a nuanced perspective on food’s role in shaping our personal, social, and environmental landscapes, underscoring the quotidian rituals that nourish and define us. Through their work, food becomes a means of exploring love, memory, and power, inviting viewers to consider the many ways we connect to each other, our pasts, and the natural world.