A painting of four men in a living room. Two are dancing and two are sitting on a sofa.

Salman Toor, Four Friends, 2019. Oil on plywood, 40 × 40 in. (101.6 × 101.6 cm). Collection of Christie Zhou. © Salman Toor. Image courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

A painting of four men in a living room. Two are dancing and two are sitting on a sofa.

Salman Toor: How Will I Know
Nov 13, 2020–Apr 4, 2021

A painting of four men in a living room. Two are dancing and two are sitting on a sofa.

Salman Toor, Four Friends, 2019. Oil on plywood, 40 × 40 in. (101.6 × 101.6 cm). Collection of Christie Zhou. © Salman Toor. Image courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

A painting of four men in a living room. Two are dancing and two are sitting on a sofa.

For his first museum solo exhibition, Salman Toor (b. 1983) presents new and recent oil paintings. Known for his small-scale figurative works that combine academic technique and a quick, sketch-like style, Toor offers intimate views into the imagined lives of young, queer Brown men residing between New York City and South Asia. Recurring color palettes and references to art history heighten the emotional impact of Toor’s paintings and add a fantastical element to his narratives drawn from lived experience. 

Lush interior scenes depict friends dancing, playing with puppies, and gazing into their smartphones. In these idealistic settings, Toor’s figures are freed from the impositions placed upon them by the outside world. In contrast, his more muted tableaus highlight moments of passivity to convey nostalgia or alienation. One painting features a forlorn man whose possessions are on display for the scrutiny of airport security officers; another renders unspoken tensions around a family dinner table palpable. Taken as a whole, Toor’s paintings consider vulnerability within contemporary public and private life and the notion of community in the context of queer, diasporic identity. 

Salman Toor: How Will I Know is organized by Christopher Y. Lew, Nancy and Fred Poses Curator, and Ambika Trasi, curatorial assistant.

Salman Toor: How Will I Know is part of the Whitney’s emerging artists program, sponsored by

Nordstrom

Generous support is provided by Further Forward Foundation, the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation, and the Manitou Fund.

Additional support is provided by the Artists Council, Luhring Augustine, and Graham Steele and Ulysses de Santi.

Events

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A painting of a bar lit in green light filled with people dancing, kissing, checking their phones, and drinking.

Essay
The Self as Cipher: Salman Toor’s Narrative Paintings

By Ambika Trasi, curatorial assistant

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Audio Guides

A painting of four men in a living room. Two are dancing and two are sitting on a sofa.

“We took this title because, not only was it a song that I really like dancing to, but it also had a deeper resonance, thinking about the future.” —Salman Toor

Hear from Salman Toor about the work in the exhibition.

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Installation Photography

A gallery filled with art.

Installation view of Salman Toor: How Will I Know (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 13, 2020–April 4, 2021). From left to right: Four Friends, 2019; Bar Boy, 2019; Tea, 2020. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

A gallery filled with art.
A gallery with a bench in front of a wall with art.

Installation view of Salman Toor: How Will I Know (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 13, 2020–April 4, 2021). From left to right: Parts and Things, 2019; Bar Boy, 2019; Tea, 2020. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

A gallery with a bench in front of a wall with art.
A gallery filled with art.

Installation view of Salman Toor: How Will I Know (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 13, 2020–April 4, 2021). From left to right: Puppy Play Date, 2019; Sleeping Boy, 2019; Bedroom Boy, 2019; Stoop, 2020; The Smokers, 2018; Parts and Things, 2019. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

A gallery filled with art.
A corner of a gallery with art on the walls.

Installation view of Salman Toor: How Will I Know (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 13, 2020–April 4, 2021). From left to right: Puppy Play Date, 2019; Sleeping Boy, 2019; Bedroom Boy, 2019. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

A corner of a gallery with art on the walls.
A gallery with a bench and art on the walls.

Installation view of Salman Toor: How Will I Know (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 13, 2020–April 4, 2021). From left to right: Nightmare, 2020; Man with Face Creams and Phone Plug, 2019; Car Boys, 2019; The Star, 2019; Puppy Play Date, 2019. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

A gallery with a bench and art on the walls.
Art displayed on a wall of a gallery.

Installation view of Salman Toor: How Will I Know (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 13, 2020–April 4, 2021). From left to right: Two Men with Van, Tie and Bottle, 2019; Nightmare, 2020; Man with Face Creams and Phone Plug, 2019. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

Art displayed on a wall of a gallery.
A gallery with a bench and art on the walls.

Installation view of Salman Toor: How Will I Know (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 13, 2020–April 4, 2021). From left to right: Bar Boy, 2019; Tea, 2020; Two Men with Van, Tie and Bottle, 2019; Nightmare, 2020. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

A gallery with a bench and art on the walls.

In the Whitney’s Collection
3 works

In a green bar, a South Asian man is distracted on his phone while being surrounded by men interacting with each other

Salman Toor
Bar Boy
2019

Boyish, short-haired figures gather around a central figure seated and at a mirror. They groom the central figure with hair spray and make-up brushes.

Salman Toor
The Star
2019

A short haired man with brown skin and a scruffy beard stands over a charger and other small belongings. His shirt is slouchy with one sleeve stained red.

Salman Toor
Man with Face Creams and Phone Plug
2019

In the News

"Toor is experiencing a massive moment" —W Magazine

"Toor offers intimate views into the imagined lives of young, queer Brown men residing between New York City and South Asia." —Vogue

"Salman Toor belongs to a new generation of figurative painters who use their brushstrokes to unravel realities and utopias faced by communities that help them shape their identities." —Galerie

"Pakistani-origin, New York-based artist Salman Toor wants to paint a world where the East and West harmonise" —GQ India

"Toor’s canvases excite and pique interest with every stroke."—Observer

"Salman Toor’s first solo exhibition . . . is a tribute to those with identities that escape boundaries and binaries."—WNET All Arts

"[Toor's] complex narratives invite a thoughtful dialogue about contemporary queer life."—Forbes

"Salman Toor’s absorbing show at the Whitney depicts the pleasures, tensions, and small moments of gay life."—New York Review of Books

"How Will I Know is a chronicle of the making and unmaking of queer, diasporic identity."—Hyperallergic

"Toor’s scenes of closeness and spontaneous encounter, his renderings of a community (or demimonde), real or imagined, strike a powerful note of something like nostalgia."—4Columns

"As the dozen or so works in How Will I Know will demonstrate, [Toor’s] work seems closer in some ways to, say, Van Gogh’s early paintings"—The New York Times

"Salman Toor lives, and paints, between worlds"—Vulture

"Toor joins a cohort of queer figurative artists negotiating the history of painting and the contemporary developments that condition their subjectivity."—Frieze

"[This] gorgeous show . . . explores the concept of community within the context of a queer, diasporic identity."—NBC News

"The paintings invite us in as we scan over them: dashes of emerald vibrate, cloud-grey lines illuminate, tawny marks speak."—Brooklyn Rail

Sunrise

Sunset

A 30-second online art project:
LaTurbo Avedon, Morning Mirror / Evening Mirror

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Face coverings are still required, even for vaccinated visitors. Learn more about the Whitney’s safety guidelines.