"Salman Toor Just Opened the Biggest Show of His Career. Here’s How He Feels." by Adam Eli

Salman Toor has captured the imagination of his generation. The millennial Pakistani-American painter's ability to swirl desire, loneliness, warmth, and sensuality into one scene have earned him a cult following and near universal acclaim from the art establishment. His largest exhibition to date, “Wish Maker,” opened May 2 across Luhring Augustine’s Chelsea and Tribeca galleries. The Chelsea space, where lines snaked around the block on opening night, features new paintings; the Tribeca show is the artist’s first dedicated presentation of works on paper. The two-venue moment is Toor’s first major presentation in New York since his solo exhibition of green-hued scenes at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2020, which shot him to art stardom. 

Early in the morning, exactly one week before the new show opened, Salman bid farewell to the collection of work he’d spent more than two years making. The paintings were carefully packed up and moved across the East River from his Bushwick studio to Manhattan. CULTURED contributor and Toor’s personal friend Adam Eli visited the artist at the studio to see how he was feeling ahead of this pivotal moment in his career. 

Adam Eli: How's it going? How are you feeling?

Salman Toor: Good. I haven't been this free for like two years. 

Eli: This is a pretty prolific outpouring of work. Maybe the most significant since the Whitney show in 2020. How are you feeling with the show a week away?

Toor: I always feel a certain way when paintings leave the studio. I get attached. Some of them I'm very proud of, and I like looking at them every day when I come to the studio. So it's a bit lonely without them. 

Eli: What do you mean by lonely? 

Toor: To me, painting consists of some moments that are magical and miraculous beyond reason. In the good moments, something incredible and unexpected can happen in a very short period of time. To have a record of that in front of me when I come into the studio helps me believe that I can do it again. When I do a painting that I love, it is miraculous and amazing but it doesn’t happen often. But when it does, that's the reason I want to paint again. So, I like to keep the finished paintings around as a reminder. 

Read full article at culturedmag.com