The Plan Maker 2018

Salman Toor’s painting, "The Plan Maker," captures a figure illuminated by the glow of a phone. The light is unreal, too much, but beautiful. The quick brushstrokes of the skin and jeans make the figure look a little unstable. The colors are muted, close in tone, the surface is scrubby, and there is something anxious in his process. Note the open drawer. The discarded clothes. It’s not about finish, it’s about process. The phone in this painting feels like a reference to the way that painting holds light. Think of Caravaggio and the way light can illuminate a subject. Toor updates this idea for the present, in a world of glowing screens. I can’t help but think of the quiet intimacy of Fairfield Porter who also explored the intimacies of domestic life. But where Porter seems at ease, Toor suggests something a little more ambiguous.