Public resentment of unjustified perks and privileges of the moneyed class is currently fodder to the mill of ‘breaking news’. And Salman Toor’s new works, “Close Quarters”, shown at the Canvas Gallery, Karachi, sit well amidst this rise against VIP culture. Presently he is the only young generation artist whose oeuvre pointedly focuses on the domestic master-servant relationship. He probes the deeply unequal power equation with a sensitive emphasis on the emotional pitch of his protagonists.

In “Close Quarters” (pun intended) shabby, cramped spaces, immediate contact or close range situations relating to master-servant interactions are artfully projected to specify disparities. Skewed realities are sugarcoated with humour, romance and fantasy, but the oblique twists are steamy enough to define acute inconsistencies.

Tableaus of contemporary Bacchanalian revelry are Toor’s forte (current painting ‘Halloween’ and previous ‘Happy servant’, ‘Group dance’ paintings are case in point). He has a flair for compositions illustrating fun and merriment. Creating wine, women and song / dance shindigs by mixing Hollywood and Bollywood prototypes (often culled from fashion magazines, billboards and commercial cinema) he peeks into the life of the standing of the uber rich and their retinue of obedient servants. Within the domestic environment he locates the upper-class disregard for their social inferiors and the underclass servitude of unquestioning allegiance, devotion and commitment to the master.

Salman Toor positions himself in the centre of both sides of the class chasm to capture reality

Cocooned in the halo of wealth and gentility the super-rich take the institution of servitude for granted. Wealthy aristocratic masters actively discourage close familiarity with the ‘inferior’ servant class; the emphasis is on distinction and difference. Domestic service provides a setting where class is reproduced and challenged on a daily basis. Servants and employers have to live in close proximity; many in fact reside in the same house. They, therefore, are forced to share many intimacies such as occupying different domestic spaces, utilising separate sets of vessels, etc. The enforced shared intimacy unsurprisingly has an effect on class barriers and the relationship between employer and servant.

Focusing on this imbalance the artist perks the notion with a personal mix of populist imagery and Renaissance / Baroque art. As a painter he maintains his linkage with the Western academic master art and the critic in him processes contemporary commercial vocabulary to build real and imaginary teasers. He often uses dream imagery of the Disneyland variety to articulate the servant class’s yearnings and desires and the moneyed masters’ abandon and gaiety.

Technically he is very adept at capturing suitable facial expressions and body language of his subjects and artist John Currin’s influence on the candour and stylised anatomy of his figures is still quite evident. He weaves painted versions of outdoor landscapes peculiar to museum quality old master paintings, seamlessly into his otherwise populist art. Appropriate and humorous use of decorative kitschy items like cheap porcelain figurines, artificial roses, wine goblets and plastic water spray bottles belie his sharp observation and ability to revamp ordinary items into critical objects.

Unlike his cheerful paintings the “Room” series strike a somber note. Dim lights, dirty confined spaces and soiled bedding in the near empty ‘Ramzaan’s, Ali’s and Rafiq’s room’ reveal the shabbiness of the unkempt billets to emphasise the class divide central to “Close Quarters”. While the context is different these paintings are faintly reminiscent of Van Gogh’s ‘Bedroom at Arles’. Similarly the juxtaposition of longing and oblivion in ‘Maid with sleeping boy’ brings a sensitive, searching feel to his premise.

Presently Toor is handling his working skills and social criticism to an advantageous effect. In this exhibition the artist balances the imbalance he is projecting by positioning himself in the centre of both sides of the class chasm in order to capture reality. — S.A.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 23rd, 2014