Forestaurant - a group show of Auckland artists - is paying a visit to Christchurch this summer for High Street Project's last show for 2007. It offers a variety of delectable delights, and while each artwork operates in different ways, the exhibition as a whole loosely aims to examine the veneer of the natural - be it the Kiwi dream of the quarter-acre section, the bold claims of modernist artwork commissioned for public civic areas, or hokey attempts to recreate 'free' and 'contemplative' space in an urban setting.

Image: Conor Clarke, Archway - CambridgeWhile some of the work exhibited at the City Art Rooms in Auckland will be reappear in Christchurch, many of the Auckland based artists and all of the artists from Christchurch will be making new work for this exhibition's new incarnation at HSP.
Forestaurant brings together the work of eight Auckland artists and three Cantabrians, and includes a wide array of media - sculpture, installation, photographs, paintings, and collages.

The work in Forestaurant is quirky and considered and isn't afraid to play up to some romantically inherited cliches. Conor Clarke's photograph Archway - Cambridge languidly looks into the backyards of New Zealand and our efforts to keep nature at bay.

Sam Hartnett, the exhibition's curator and contributing artist, presents a deadpan photograph that cheekily examines attempts to confound the natural and urban world. And Hamish Palmer hopes to go for extreme garnishing. "I've been inspired by food photography," Palmer says. "I intend to garnish the gallery with nature-based objects using principles of Ikebana, a Zen flower arranging discipline. If a tree falls in Forestaurant," Palmer asks straight-faced, "does it make a sound?"

Forestaurant features Conor Clarke, Fiona Connor, Julien Dyne, Sam Hartnett, Anya Henis, Jill Kennedy, Dave King, and Seung Yul Oh, Justin Kerr, Hamish Palmer and Zina Swanson.

When: 4-21 December 2007
Where: High Street Project, Level 1, 140A Lichfield St, Christchurch

29/11/07