Pakistani-American artist Salman Toor to open first European solo show in London

Pakistani American artist Salman Toor, 43, will open his first solo exhibition in Europe at London's Courtauld Gallery on 2 October. The show, titled "Someone Like You," was curated together with Elena Crippa and runs until 10 January, bringing together a selection of his paintings and drawings.

Toor's work consists of richly figurative oil paintings that echo and subvert European old masters and Indian Mughal miniatures, portraying queer South Asian men in bars, at parties, in taxis and everyday settings. The artist says it matters to him that these figures take centre stage rather than remain a side story.

From Lahore to New York

Born in Lahore into a middle-class Muslim family, Toor moved to the US in 2002 to study art in Ohio and later earned a master's degree from New York's Pratt Institute. His signature style — emerald-green compositions with explicit gay themes — developed over the past decade, with most works in the current show completed in the last seven years, during which he gained US citizenship.

His painting "Four Friends" sold for $1.2m at Sotheby's in November 2022, and Time recently named him among its most influential figures in the art world.

A New York moment

Toor lives in New York with his partner, musician Ali Sethi, at a time of heightened energy among the city's South Asian and Middle Eastern communities following the election of mayor Zohran Mamdani. In 2007, at the request of his friend, film director Mira Nair — Mamdani's mother — Toor painted a family portrait, including an individual portrait of Zohran that still hangs in their home.

Toor is also working on a portrait of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained for more than three months amid the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech.