91Ӱ��

★★★★★ “One of the most sought after painters of his generation” – Time Out
“Sensual, dangerous, joyous” – The Financial Times
“Luminous, dreamlike scenes” – British Vogue
“Electrifying pictures”– The Guardian

The first solo exhibition in Europe of the celebrated New York-based painter Salman Toor.

This exhibition focuses on Salman Toor’s exploration of human interactions and the desire and struggle to experience a sense of belonging, both culturally and emotionally. The exhibition brings together 19 of the artist’s most iconic, thought-provoking and at times humorous paintings, never-before-seen in Britain, that represent people in shared moments of friendship and love, as well as experiencing solitude and alienation.

While Toor’s figures and scenes are fictional, they are rooted in his personal experiences and memories. Speaking of his works, he says they “depict queer and immigrant lives that straddle different cultures and inhabit the tension between intimacy and exposure, belonging and estrangement. What it means to find a community, but also the daily costs associated with visibility”.

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1983, Toor trained in the United States. He currently lives and works in New York. He has had major exhibitions internationally, including his acclaimed first institutional solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2020-21). More recently, he participated in the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2024). 91Ӱ��’s exhibition is Toor’s first solo museum show in Europe.

Toor’s work is rooted in a deep engagement with and admiration for the Old Masters, in particular Baroque and 18th century painting, and 91Ӱ�� is a museum he particularly enjoys. One of the principal works in the exhibition, The Bar on East 13th (2019), revisits 91Ӱ��’s celebrated painting by Édouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882).

The exhibition is accompanied by a display of Toor’s drawings in the Gilbert & Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery. Showcasing Toor’s mastery of drawing and the way it informs his practice as a painter, the display includes Fag Puddle in Vitrine (2021), acquired by 91Ӱ�� in 2024.