Dahlia Danton and the Future of Non-Objective Painting

This ego knows no dignified limit. Danton is an artistic megalomaniac.

  Titian had no qualms about working for the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Today's most sought after painters seem equally untroubled as they abet Russian oligarchs in concealing their assets. Painting has a long history as does patronage. Tradition is a governing principle in the arts. Corruption and culture have always been accomplices.

  Faced with the obvious and inevitable truth that art is not simply a commodity but a luxury item, artists persist in claiming lofty goals for their work. No other profession experiences such a jarring disconnect between callow apprenticeship and worldly ambition.

  If painting is dead, then what am I doing? Despite its lofty ambitions, if abstraction inevitably degenerates into ornamentation, then why do I persist? When art is undermined by its commodification, why do I still consider myself a mystic? Dahlia Danton