The Texter 2019

Salman Toor made "The Texter" with oil on board, sometime around now. I love how Toor uses these quiet, muted colors to create such a strangely vibrant scene. It's like he’s whispering secrets to us through the paint. Look at the way he’s built up the texture on the wall behind the figure, thick strokes pulling away from each other and creating these ghost-like shapes. It reminds me of someone I used to know; their presence always felt so palpable, even when they weren’t really there. It’s the kind of painting that gets under your skin, not in a creepy way, but in a way that makes you feel seen. There’s a sense of intimacy, but also distance. It feels like we’re intruding on a private moment, but the way the paint is handled, with all those visible brushstrokes, keeps us at arm’s length. Toor reminds me a little of Pierre Bonnard, someone else who knew how to make the mundane feel magical. Art's like that, an ongoing dialogue across time and space.