'Avocado Toast' the first solo exhibition in Whanganui for artist Brydee Rood

Brydee Rood, left, and Talula Lamont at the Edith Gallery on Taupo Quay. Photo / Bevan Conley

Local artist Brydee Rood will open her first solo exhibition in Whanganui at the Edith Gallery on Taupo Quay on Saturday.

Rood's "Avocado Toast" exhibition features a series of "light, washed-out paintings" that focus on the New Zealand housing market and inflation.

"For me it's an interesting body of work to pull out because I actually started it 20 years ago," Rood said.

"When I shifted down to Whanganui and bought my first home it was one of the boxes I decided I was going to keep and bring with me even though I hadn't really looked in it for so long."

Rood, who moved to Whanganui from Auckland eight months ago, said she had felt the "spark" to rework and explore the collection again.

"I've deconstructed and reconstructed things a little bit differently to how they were first installed, and originally the paintings and the signs and the titles were all boxed into one little kitset house.

"I felt there was a little bit too much going on with the way I presented them back then, and I wanted to pare it back.

"For me, to have the paintings on their own, very simple, It almost feels like they're completely new works.

Each of Rood's paintings is paired with a sign and she said there was a "gentle humour" running through each of their titles.

"I took the titles straight off real estate signs and out of the real estate section of the local rag back in 1999".

"'So Affordable and Flat' is one of my favourites, and so is 'The Fields', which is actually a state housing complex.

"They've all got cheeky titles, like 'Everything but the Butler', 'Tomorrow's Nest Egg', and 'Neat and Nifty'.

Rood said "Avocado Toast" also featured a video she had made in 2011 called "The DIY Inflation Demonstration", in which she attempts to blow up a large building insulation bag with a foot pump.

"It's also got that humour, but it's really a critical commentary on inflation and the market from a sideways angle, as artists tend to do."

The drawings of Whanganui artist Talula Lamont also feature on a wall of the exhibition, and she said they were made to "tie in" with Rood's collection.

"I worked with her theme, and there are a few political issues in there as well," Lamont said.

"Judith Collins is in there with her quote that selling state houses was 'absolutely a good thing to do', but I didn't set out to offend any National supporters, it was just meant to tie into the "Avocado Toast" theme.

• Avocado Toast opens at Edith Gallery (24 Taupo Quay) this Saturday at 11am, with avocados and bread from SourBros Bakery available to visitors.