User:R1schne/Salman Toor

Work
Toor has described that his work is concerned with a variety of themes, such as treatment of brown men, young people in public and private spaces, and the role of technology in daily life. Curator Amika Trasi has noted ”They are ruminations on the identifications variously imposed on and adopted by queer South Asian men living in the diaspora”. In doing so, Trasi has writen, Toor aims to include queer brown men in the art historical canon that is often missing this representation.

Growing up in Pakistan, Toor explained an interview that he drew inspiration from Pakistani advertisements. Once he began to focus more on art, Toor found inspiration in paintings from the Baroque, Neoclassical, and Rococo eras. Specifically Toor describes being inspired by Van Dyck, Peter Paul Reubens, Caravaggio, and Watteau. Curators note Toor’s art historical knowledge makes its way into his work. For example, critic and curator Joseph Wolin observes that Toor's The Bar on East 13th directly references Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergere.

In terms of his figuration, Toor has explained, “I like these seemingly undernourished and hairy bodies of color inhabiting familiar, bourgeois, urban, interior spaces. I see these boys or men as well-educated, creative types discovering what it means to live an artist’s life in New York City and in the thick of changing ideas about race, immigration, and foreignness, and also what it means to be American. Sometimes they can look like lifestyle images. They are also fantasies about myself and my community."

Curators have noted Toor's paintings make use of bright, saturated colors to evoke emotion. Green is one of the most notable colors in his work. The artist cites the “nocturnal" quality that green can give to a painting, as well as it’s conflicting associations with poison and glamor. Toor works from memory and often depicts his friends in his paintings.

Art Market
According to salesroom, Toor has performed well in the art market since 2020. While working in Pakistan, collectors Taimur Hassan and Kiran Nadar frequently purchased his work. After moving to New York, curators noted a change in style less reliant on master studies. Toor’s Whitney show sold almost entirely before opening to museum benefactors.

Toor's first appearance in the auctions was on the 20th of October at Phillips Auction House in London where Aashiana (Hearth and Home) sold for £138,600, double it's estimate. On December 15, 2020, Liberty Porcelain (2012) went for £378,000 at Phillips Auction House in London. In June of 2021 at the Phillips Auction House in Hong Kong, Girl with Driver (2013) sold for $890,000, which was five times the estimated price.

2019

 * Them, Galerie Perrotin, New York
 * Home is Not a Place, Anat Ebgi Gallery, LA

2018

 * Are you Here? Lahore Biennale 2018, Lahore

2016

 * Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016, Kochi
 * Go Figure, Aicon Gallery, New York

2014

 * Wrech, Honey Ramka, New York

2013

 * Cinephiliac: Art Transcending Technology and Motion, Twelve Gates Art Gallery, Philiadelphia


 * Return of The Native, Rohtas II Gallery, Lahore

2012

 * Stop Play Pause Repeat, Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Dubai Letters to Taseer II, Drawing Room Gallery, Lahore 2010


 * All about Us, Canvas Gallery, Karachi

2009

 * Wounds, Aicon Gallery, London


 * Exchange Show, Montclair University MFA Gallery, Montclair, New Jersey Pratt MFA Thesis Show, Stueben Gallery, Brooklyn

2008

 * Pratt in Lucca, Piazza del Anfiteatro, Lucca, Italy