Jardin Noir

Burton Morris

30″ × 30″

Silkscreen, Spray Paint, and Acrylic on Canvas

Jardin Noir is presented as part of Burton Morris’ solo exhibition Icons in Bloom at MASH Gallery. The work belongs to the artist’s Sea of Roses series, where the single rose is expanded into a dense and immersive visual field. Rendered in stark black and white, the composition strips the rose of decorative color and instead emphasizes line, contrast, and repetition. Through layered silkscreen and painterly interruption, blossoms overlap and dissolve into one another, creating a rhythmic architecture that feels both ornamental and abstract.

Morris’ earlier pop works were defined by bold, saturated color and crisp graphic clarity, aligned with the mechanical aesthetic of classic Pop Art. In this new body of work, however, he moves beyond tightly rendered icons toward a more atmospheric and process-driven surface. The repetition of the rose recalls Andy Warhol’s serial imagery, yet Morris departs from mechanical uniformity by allowing variation, density, and tonal shifts to activate the canvas. The result is a contemporary pop art painting that bridges graphic tradition with abstract accumulation.

In Jardin Noir, the rose becomes both unit and environment. Individual blooms lose hierarchy as they merge into a collective pulse, transforming a historically romantic symbol into a structured yet fluid visual field. This evolution demonstrates Morris’ contribution to redefining Pop Art for the 21st century, expanding it beyond commercial reproduction and into a more materially expressive, immersive experience.