Artist Salman Toor on Painting the Shadow Father

Tell Me About Your Father

Artist Salman Toor, 38, had his first solo museum show in late 2020 at the Whitney, an acclaimed exhibition of 15 paintings titled How Will I Know, which the New York Times called “a brilliant debut.” Since then, Toor, who has shown work at the Frick Collection, has rocketed to stardom in the art world with a stunning body of work in lush green evocative of 16th and 17th century-style old masters paintings. Many of Toor's pieces depict young, queer South Asian people, which he says are based on himself and his friends, finding connection in a world dominated by white patriarchy. On the episode of Tell Me About Your Father, Salman talks with co-host Matt Phillp about growing up queer in Pakistan, his relationship with his father and mother both as an adolescent and now, and how they view his success. They compare notes about attending all-boys prep schools in outposts of the British empire, and Salman talks about a recurring figure in his work that he calls a “shadow father”, paintings of which will be featured in another exhibition this May at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

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