HONOLULU, HAWAII.- Opening July 14 at the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA), Salman Toor: No Ordinary Love presents the first museum solo exhibition by Salman Toor (b. 1983, Pakistan) in the Pacific region. The exhibition, on view through Oct. 8, features the renowned artist’s unique approach to figurative painting through more than 45 recent paintings and works on paper.

“Toor has an important perspective to share as a queer man from South Asia who immigrated to America,” said HoMA’s Director and CEO Halona Norton-Westbrook. “Leaning on his lived experience navigating shifting cultural environments, his scenes center underrepresented figures to tell modern stories of family life, queer desire and immigrant experience. HoMA is eager to share this unique point of view with our community to help deepen our connections with one another and the world we share.”

Taking inspiration from European, American and South Asian artistic traditions, Toor weaves together contemporary scenes that confuse class, culture and individuality to tell personal stories centering on Brown, queer characters. “I see my work as part of a larger project of subcultured voices who update and challenge notions of identity in Western art history,” said Toor. “My practice explores both hope and anxieties related to the queer experience from an international viewpoint.”

Toor’s paintings evoke a sense of tenderness as they deal with complex themes such as immigration, race and sexuality. Throughout, Toor keeps a lightness, and sometimes adds a layer of absurdity, to the artwork. Often working in a signature palette of rich emerald greens, his paintings are infused with a nocturnal note of bohemian dreaminess. The atmospheric tones offer additional layers of meaning, whether portraying comfort, isolation, celebration or uneasiness.

In Walking Together (2019), Toor depicts a Brown man in a white shirt as the central figure. Walking in a crowd, he is embraced across his shoulder by a taller man, who doesn’t seem to notice the figure is simultaneously holding hands with a third person in the foreground dressed as a harlequin. The radiating lines around their intertwined hands create tension within the scene.

Toor often depicts scenes of fleeting intimacy, offering the viewer a window into private moments of vulnerability and desire. Visitors will witness a secret encounter in Back Lawn (2021), an intimate view of an emotional figure in Crying Boy with Candle (2021) and a young man exploring what might be his mother’s makeup in The Women (2021).

Toor has compared the act of painting with the freedom of dancing by oneself in a crowd. The title of this exhibition is inspired by the song No Ordinary Love by Sade. The artist has borrowed song titles for other exhibitions, such as Time After Time at Aicon Gallery in New York in 2018, inspired by Cyndi Lauper, and How Will I Know, inspired by Whitney Houston at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2020.

No Ordinary Love is part of a larger theme at HoMA centered around the idea of shifting perspectives. Over the course of the next year, the Museum will present exhibitions, installations and programs that have the narrative-flipping power to change the way visitors see, think and feel, revealing personal and societal evolutions.

“The pandemic disruption has shifted HoMA’s own perspective, putting it on a more experimental, community-oriented path culminating in the curatorial focus of shifting perspectives,” said Catherine Whitney, HoMA’s director of curatorial affairs. “Through this ambitious year of dynamic programming, HoMA is on a journey of transformation as we rethink the role of the 21st-century museum.”

The presentation of Salman Toor: No Ordinary Love at the Honolulu Museum of Art forms part of a national tour. The exhibition was organized by and premiered at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) from May 22-Oct. 12, 2022. Additional venues include the Tampa Museum of Art in Florida (Feb. 23-June 4, 2023) and the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts (Nov. 16, 2023-Feb. 11, 2024). The exhibition was curated by Asma Naeem, Ph.D., BMA’s Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. It is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog that includes essays by Naeem and writer Evan Moffitt, as well as a short story by acclaimed author Hanya Yanagihara, who grew up in Honolulu.

Salman Toor was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1983 and currently lives and works in New York. He studied painting and drawing at Ohio Wesleyan University and received his Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Salman Toor: How Will I Know, the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition, was recently presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2020-21). Toor is represented by Luhring Augustine, New York.

Salman Toor: No Ordinary Love is supported by Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design.

Related Programs:
Salman Toor: No Ordinary Love
Friday, July 14: 7 p.m., Doris Duke Theatre
Weaving together contemporary scenes with historical motifs drawn from European, American and South Asian artistic traditions, Salman Toor’s work tells stories of family life, queer desire and immigrant experiences. Join the artist for a discussion of his celebrated work as HoMA opens the exhibition Salman Toor: No Ordinary Love.

Honolulu Museum of Art
Salman Toor: No Ordinary Love
July 14th, 2023 - October 8th, 2023