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Salman Toor — Two Dancers
Salman Toor

Two Dancers

2023

Two Dancers presents a moment of quiet physical communion rendered in Salman Toor's characteristically intimate hand. Working in charcoal, ink, and gouache on paper, Toor layers translucent washes against darker gestural marks to conjure two figures caught mid-movement, their forms simultaneously assured and dissolving into the pictorial atmosphere around them. The compressed scale of the work, measuring 43.2 by 27.9 centimeters, intensifies this sense of closeness, drawing the viewer into a scene that feels less performed than witnessed. Toor, who divides his time between New York and Lahore, has built a celebrated body of work around the tender and often charged interiors of queer South Asian life. His paintings and works on paper occupy a visual lineage that draws from Mughal miniature tradition, Northern European candlelit genre scenes, and contemporary figurative painting, threading these references together with a tonal warmth and psychological complexity that feels entirely his own. Two Dancers carries this sensibility into the language of works on paper, where the medium permits a looseness and spontaneity that complements the subject's inherent sense of motion and transience. Signed by the artist and offered through the Walker Art Center Benefit Auction, this work is accompanied by the institutional provenance of courtesy from Luhring Augustine, New York. A framed presentation is not included, leaving collectors the opportunity to contextualize the piece according to their own vision. The work ships from Minneapolis, Minnesota, with shipping costs and applicable fees the responsibility of the acquiring collector.

Medium
Charcoal, ink, and gouache on paper
Overall
Signed
Yes

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About this work

Salman Toor, Two Dancers, 2023

Two Dancers presents a moment of quiet physical communion rendered in Salman Toor's characteristically intimate hand. Working in charcoal, ink, and gouache on paper, Toor layers translucent washes against darker gestural marks to conjure two figures caught mid-movement, their forms simultaneously assured and dissolving into the pictorial atmosphere around them. The compressed scale of the work, measuring 43.2 by 27.9 centimeters, intensifies this sense of closeness, drawing the viewer into a scene that feels less performed than witnessed. Toor, who divides his time between New York and Lahore, has built a celebrated body of work around the tender and often charged interiors of queer South Asian life. His paintings and works on paper occupy a visual lineage that draws from Mughal miniature tradition, Northern European candlelit genre scenes, and contemporary figurative painting, threading these references together with a tonal warmth and psychological complexity that feels entirely his own. Two Dancers carries this sensibility into the language of works on paper, where the medium permits a looseness and spontaneity that complements the subject's inherent sense of motion and transience. Signed by the artist and offered through the Walker Art Center Benefit Auction, this work is accompanied by the institutional provenance of courtesy from Luhring Augustine, New York. A framed presentation is not included, leaving collectors the opportunity to contextualize the piece according to their own vision. The work ships from Minneapolis, Minnesota, with shipping costs and applicable fees the responsibility of the acquiring collector.

Medium
Charcoal, ink, and gouache on paper
Dimensions
overall: 43.2 x 27.9 cm
Year
2023
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
Walker Art Center Benefit Auction

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Collected by

Alex Capecelatro, Sarah Greenspan, Brian Stoogens, Kyle Stewart, Gigi Rutkowski, Becky Cohen, John McNally, Guy Benny, Carolyn Lynx