Some mostly art thoughts

Just a fun, little update:

• My review of After Impressionism show at London’s National Gallery is now live on Open Letters Review, check it out 🙂 

• I have finished one out of thirteen booker books and am in the midst of two. Wish me luck!!

I wrote the below as an edit test for a prospective client but felt a bit sad that more people wouldn’t see it. The brand liked it and I hope you do too. Enjoy:

The work of the Pakistani-born, New York-based artist Salman Toor routinely draws from the Western canon to center young, queer Brown men in scenes of public and private life that transcend geographic boundaries. His painting The Bar on East 13th is no different.

Ensconced within the confines of a dimly lit bar, Toor’s barman stands before the viewer demanding comparison with Édouard Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882). The Manet barmaid, with her thick fringe, flushed cheeks, and alabaster skin, stands with her arms locked, hands hidden from view. Toor’s character, unlike Manet’s barmaid, has agency. The bartender holds half of a lemon in one hand while the other hand rests, palm down, on a counter that is smeared with the remnants of a spilled drink. While Manet’s painting centers his enigmatic barmaid before a leering male patron, Toor’s barman stands slightly off-center, head askew. His drooping eyes, curious and sensual, invite conversation. The customer before him stands reverently with his head bowed, hand raised in adab.

In addition to drawing inspiration from classical works of art, Toor's artistry is also influenced by more contemporary pieces. Most notably, The Bar on East 13th pays tribute to Nicole Eisenman's Sloppy Bar Room Kiss (2011) and Beer Garden with Ash (2009). Both of Eisemman’s paintings depict two androgynous bodies who become one form through their embrace. Rendered by Toor’s hand, the amorous couple in the bottom right hand of his piece is vulnerable even though their moment of pleasure is taking place in the public sphere. Within the safety of the bar, isolated from the external world, their passion is admissible.

Toor’s use of sketch-like brushstrokes, coupled with his limited color palette, has imbued his nocturnal setting with a melancholic atmosphere. With the exception of the two central characters in Toor’s painting, the patrons of the bar fall prey to an emerald tint that is infused with a phosphorescent green glow, evoking a surreal ambiance. That artist’s background characters revel in the night with curved shoulders and wayward limbs that stretch into the air and clasp drinks close to their chest. These snapshots of intimacy are illuminated by fairy lights, a disco ball, and the glow of the ever-present, never out of sight smartphone.

Toor’s mode of painting, where epicene bodies move through public and private spaces, has been described as “queer figuration.” His creative output places him amidst the loosely-affiliated painters called the New Queer Intimists, who are known for their intimate and personal approach to portraiture. Among his contemporaries in this movement are Doron Langberg, Louis Fratino, Kyle Coniglio, Anthony Cudahy, TM Davy, and Devan Shimoyama.

Toor’s small-scale figurative pieces combine technique and art historical allusions with an immediacy courtesy of his impasto brushstrokes. His style pays homage while subverting expectations for paintings that are both atmospheric and romantic while tinged with nostalgia. Just as Toor exists in multiple spaces, his oeuvre reconciles the plurality found within the self.

On my wishlist:

The sales are saleing right now and though I’m not shopping, I wanted to share what I would if I could:

• I’m a big fan of Kika Vargas’ silhouettes and bold hues. This blouse* with the ruffle trim on the sleeve is divine.

• I know, I know the Sandy Liang x Baggu collab just dropped but what about this tank? As I’m writing this there is only one left!!

• This is the perfect shoe in my opinion but there’s also only one left! So, I offer you this sculptural heel, also by Dries van Noten.

• I only discovered Shushu/Tong this year and I’m really impressed by how this Shanghai-based brand fuses prep with delicate, girly embellishments. It’s almost as if Simone Rocha and Thom Browne melded to give us Shushu/Tong. Love this pleated skirt and this blouse.

*If you buy anything from these links, I will make no money b/c I have not figured out how to monetize things lol xoxo