Eleventh Street 2018

Salman Toor painted this scene, Eleventh Street, sometime this century, and the first thing that grabs you is the brown. It's like the whole world’s been dipped in sepia. Toor uses thin layers of paint to create this feeling of faded nostalgia, like a memory half-recalled. Look closely at the figures. They’re outlined with a delicate touch, almost cartoonish, but rendered with great detail, like the shine on the dog’s fur or the folds in the man's jeans. The way the light filters through the scene is really interesting, everything kind of glows softly. That crumpled plastic cup in the foreground, next to the bulging black bin bag, is rendered with as much care as the human characters. It's a scene that is both ordinary and otherworldly. You could say that Edward Hopper is an influence, the way he captures that sense of urban alienation and melancholy. But Toor brings a warmth and intimacy all of his own. He reminds us that even in the most mundane of settings, there’s always a story to be told.