This doesn’t mean he lacks levity – he’s a 26-year-old abstract painter with solo shows in taste-making New York, Los Angeles and London galleries, in an era when the market for emerging artists has achieved legendary status. By most standards, he has plenty to be happy about. Thornton is a serious painter because he takes painting seriously, making each of his striking compositions in acrylic a site for meaningful contemplation and self-expression rather than an excuse for expensive conceptual gamesmanship. It’s a refreshing (if somewhat unfashionable) gesture in the current contemporary art climate, and he’s all too aware that his success may not last forever.Read More in Issue 2...