Early 20th Century modernism aimed to change the human experience, rejecting everyday mundanity and reality in favor of the penetrating peculiarity of cubist deconstruction, unnatural chromatism, Dadaist absurdity and “pure” abstraction. The artists of those eras reveled in the supernatural and strange beauty of the unexpected and uncanny. Contemporary artist Jonathan Gardner pays homage to these 20th-century ideas in his distinctly beguiling compositions. Paintings such as Daisy, 2014 illustrate how Gardner deftly melds the influences of his predecessors to form his own imminently recognizable and stunning aesthetic.

The two main compositional elements in Daisy—an inverted female bust hovering over a singular potted flower resting on a circular white table—seemingly exist in two concurrent realities, both with the same playful pink wallpaper of outlined female figures in the background. Drawing from influences such as Matisse’s cut-outs and Magritte’s distinct objects in surreal interiors, Leger’s body geometries and Seurat’s relaxed bathers, Daisy distorts the viewer’s perception of a singular narrative within the composition. Gardner leaves open the possibility for multiple and simultaneous interpretations of his alluring painting. His ability to synthesize a contemporary figurative aesthetic in the 21st century illustrates the persistent interest in the manner in which viewers and artists perceive representational art and with it their own natural world.