Bar Boy 2019

Salman Toor made *Bar Boy* with paint, and it’s all a cool sort of luscious green. Just imagine Toor in the studio, building up these layers, maybe starting with a sketch, then letting the figures emerge, shifting the composition as he goes. You can see him thinking about other painters like Vuillard and Bonnard. The thin paint, the way the figures blend into the background, it’s as if the scene is dissolving, becoming a memory or a dream. The title points us towards the figure in the center, but then what about all those other figures in the composition? What are they doing? Who are they? How are they relating to the artist, and to each other? It’s all in play here, up for grabs, and the painter invites us to make the connections. That's what painters do, right? Spark conversations across time, and inspire new ways of seeing.