Salman Toor is a Pakistani-born American painter. He is known for making figurative paintings in which he often incorporates skinny, brown, and hairy men. In August 2023, he hit the headlines after the rumour of his marriage with popular Pakistani singer Ali Sethi was speared on the internet.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Salman Toor was born in 1983 (age 40 years; as 0f 2023) in Lahore, Pakistan. He attended Aitchison College, Lahore, Pakistan. He pursued Bachelor’s of Fine Art (Painting and Drawing), with Honors at Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware Ohio, United States in 2006. He received Master of Fine Art (Painting) from The Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York in 2009.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 10″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
There is not much information about his parents and siblings.
Husband/Spouse
In August 2023, there were rumours that Salman Toor had an intimate wedding with the popular Pakistani singer Ali Sethi in New York; however, Ali denied getting married to Salman and refuted the claims. Salman and Ali are good friends for a long time. They first met each other at Aitchison College during an art class.
Salman Toor (right) with Ali Sethi
Career
Toor’s art was put up for auction for the first time on 20 October 2020 at Phillips Auction House in London, where his artwork titled “Aashiana” (Hearth and Home) was sold for £138,600, which was twice the expected price. His artwork “Liberty Porcelain” (2012) was sold for £378,000 on 15 December 2020 at the same auction house in London.
Liberty Porcelain by Salman Toor
In June 2021, his painting “Girl with Driver” (2013) was sold at Phillips Auction House in Hong Kong for $890,000, which was five times more than the estimated price. From 2020-2021, he exhibited some of his paintings at his solo show ‘Salman Toor: How Will I Know,’ held at the Whitney Museum of American Art. His painting ‘Museum Boys’ (2021) was exhibited for one year (2021-2022) at the Frick Collection, as a part of his exhibition ‘Living Histories: Queer Views and Old Masters,’ where his painting was exhibited along with two paintings titled ‘Officer and Laughing Girl’ (made between 1655-1660) and ‘Mistress and Maid’ (1667) made by the ancient painter Johannes Vermeer.
Museum Boys by Salman Toor
In 2021, he created drawings for the book ‘Jungle Nama,’ written by Amitav Ghosh.
Cover of the book ‘Jungle Nama’
Theme & Style
Toor’s artworks are predominantly based on the themes such as the treatment of LGBTQ, brown men in society, young people in public and private spaces, and the role of technology in daily life. In his paintings, he covers a range of topics from art history to queer culture to Post-Colonialism. His paintings are mainly figurative in which he often incorporates the skinny, undernourished, and hairy men figures. In an interview, while talking about the themes and style of his artwork, he said,
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.”
Reunion by Salman Toor
According to some curators, Toor’s use of bright and saturated colours in his paintings evokes emotions. Among these colours, green holds a prominent place in his creations. In an interview, he talked about the nocturnal quality that green can bring to a painting, along with its contradictory connections to both toxicity and allure. He said,
I chose green for aesthetic reasons. There is something nocturnal about it, like night vision. It’s inviting and glamorous, but it has connotations of poisonous gases and potions. But most importantly, I like that it’s not a sentimental color.”
Four Friends by Salmaan Toor
Exhibitions
2023
- No Ordinary Love HOMA – Honolulu
2022
- No Ordinary Love, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
2020
- How will I know, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
2019
- Them, Galerie Perrotin, New York
- Home is Not a Place, Anat Ebgi Gallery, LA
2018
- Are you Here? Lahore Biennale 2018, Lahore
2017
- Deep Ssips, Honey Ramka, New York
2016
- Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016, Kochi
- Go Figure, Aicon Gallery, New York
2015
- Salman Toor: Drawings from ‘The Electrician’, Honey Ramka, New York
2014
Wretch, Honey Ramka, New York
2013
- Cinephiliac: Art Transcending Technology and Motion, Twelve Gates Art Gallery, Philadelphia
- 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
- All about Us, Canvas Gallery, Karachi
2009
- Wounds, Aicon Gallery, London
- Exchange Show, Montclair University MFA Gallery, Montclair, New Jersey Pratt MFA Thesis Show, Steuben Gallery, Brooklyn
2008
- Pratt in Lucca, Piazza del Anfiteatro, Lucca, Italy
Facts/Trivia
- Toor is a member of an LGBTQ group of painters called ‘New Queer Intimists.’ The group also include his contemporary painters such as Doron Langberg, Louis Fratino, Kyle Coniglio, Anthony Cudahy, TM Davy, and Devan Shimoyama.
- In an interview, the artist revealed that initially, he took inspiration from Pakistani advertisements for his artworks. However, when he later started concentrating more on art, he found inspiration in paintings from older times like the Baroque, Neoclassical, and Rococo periods.
- In an interview, he revealed that he felt inspired by artists such as Van Dyck, Peter Paul Reubens, Caravaggio, and Watteau.
- Most of the artworks in Toor’s Whitney Show were bought by the museum benefactors even before the show started.
- In 2019, the Joan Mitchell Foundation awarded Toor with a grant.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn