After Party 2018

Salman Toor’s painting, *After Party*, really captures a moment, doesn’t it? The brushstrokes are quick, kind of slathered on, but intentional. I imagine Toor in the studio, maybe late at night, thinking about how to capture the feeling of a party winding down. There are these figures caught in a sort of dance, or maybe just a clumsy stumble. Look at the colors—soft creams, browns, and blues, with pops of red. See the way Toor uses these colors to create a hazy, dreamlike atmosphere? The textures are built up through layers of thin paint, giving it a slightly worn, vintage feel. It’s like looking at a memory. There’s this one spot where the blue of the jeans meets the brown of the floor—it's such a simple junction, but so expressive. It reminds me of other painters, like Bonnard, who found poetry in everyday scenes. Ultimately, painting is an act of translation, where we try to make sense of the world through color and form.