Paul Manton is a painter who is created by the collaborative practice of Maggie Friedman and Daniel Wenger, two painters based in Los Angeles. His research-based paintings attempt to understand the market forces that have calcified the positions of the artist, dealer, collector, etc. His painting at Stars, “Ashes to Ashes,” emerges from researching the stylistic modes available to painters today; it belongs to the category “conceptual figuration.”