The Green Bar 2018

Salman Toor painted this scene, "The Green Bar," with what looks like oil on canvas, and the first thing I notice is the way he builds up the image with layers of thin, washy color. The paint handling is pretty direct, not fussy, but the image is built up from lots of different angles. The way he layers the figures and objects on top of one another creates a sense of intimacy and density. The background has a drippy, almost abstract quality, and the figures are rendered in a more representational way, but there's still a looseness and fluidity to the brushstrokes. Look at the way he captures the folds and creases in the white shirt of the figure being embraced, using delicate, almost pastel-like hues. Toor's work reminds me a little of early Alice Neel, but with a decidedly queer sensibility. I love how he embraces ambiguity and allows the painting to unfold organically.