Toor\u2019s electrifying pictures have made him a global star \u2013 and he\u2019s even painted Zohran Mamdani. As the artist hits London\u2019s prestigious Courtauld Gallery, he talks about Manet, mullahs and the mayor<\/p>\n
In Salman Toor\u2019s 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. In one portrait, a brown man stares apprehensively while facing customs officials. For the 43-year-old Pakistani American artist, it\u2019s crucial that these figures take centre stage, after years of being demonised and erased.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt excites me that the cuteness and sexiness of brown protagonists can become familiar,\u201d says Toor when we meet at his sun-drenched Brooklyn studio, a few weeks before his first solo show in Europe. \u201cTheir stories are not a gay side story in a family saga. It\u2019s the main story. And everyone else is in the background.\u201d<\/p>\n
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