Toor's electrifying pictures have made him a global star – and he's even painted Zohran Mamdani. In one portrait, a brown man stares apprehensively while facing customs officials.
Toor's electrifying pictures have made him a global star – and he's even painted Zohran Mamdani.
In one portrait, a brown man stares apprehensively while facing customs officials.
For the 43-year-old Pakistani American artist, it's crucial that these figures take centre stage, after years of being demonised and erased.
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Toor's electrifying pictures have made him a global star – and he's even painted Zohran Mamdani. In one portrait, a brown man stares apprehensively while facing customs officials. For the 43-year-old Pakistani American artist, it's crucial that these figures take centre stage, after years of being demonised and erased.
As the artist hits London's prestigious Courtauld Gallery, he talks about Manet, mullahs and the mayor In Salman Toor's paintings, queer south Asian men hang out in bars, twerk at trippy gatherings and lose themselves in phone screens. Sometimes they huddle in the back of taxis or pillow-fight on beds. "Their stories are not a gay side story in a family saga.
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