Salman Toor, Fag Puddle with Heads, 2024. Charcoal, ink, and gouache on paper. Photo: Genevieve Hanson © Salman Toor; Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, and Thomas Dane Gallery.
Salman Toor’s first solo exhibition with Luhring Augustine is a two-part show of paintings in Chelsea, and drawings and etchings in Tribeca. There is a battle raging across his practice between the body and the space within which it exists, whether it is in the natural setting (A Meeting Place (2024)) or in an artificial structure in (Ward (2023)). Sometimes the body becomes a part of the environment such as in Coral Room (2025); sometimes the body is the environment as it becomes so architectural such as in Boys Changing (2024) and The Rescuers (2024); and in some there is a refusal to integrate, seen in Collection (2025). There are, of course, some where the synthesis of these forces comes into being more glorious than ever should be possible: The Beach (2023) is one such work on paper, while Cross Street (2025) and Walking Back (2025) are two paintings that epitomize this.
Beyond the lush monochromes at which he is so adept, there are scenes that break away into much more concrete territories, almost always populated by figures in situations of intimacy, nudity, or relaxed solitude.
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