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Mala Iqbal’s paintings, reviewed by Hyperallergic, are on view at JJ Murphy gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The works depict city encounters and mediated images, including the 2026 paintings “Subway Riders,” “Through the Curtains” and “Times Square.”
Hyperallergic has published a review of Mala Iqbal’s paintings on view at JJ Murphy gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, describing works that turn subway scenes, city crowds and screen-mediated images into reflections on how strangers share public space. The report identifies several paintings dated 2026, including “Subway Riders,” “Through the Curtains” and “Times Square.”
The review describes Iqbal’s canvases as crowded with figures and urban activity. Many use an orange and yellow glow that the writer links to life under electric light. Others, including “Through the Curtains” (2026), use a different visual structure: the report describes a collapse partly obscured by tulle, a figure reacting, and a second curtain marked with a pattern resembling pictographs.
The Hyperallergic writer reads that composition as an image of how screens deliver collapse and violence faster than viewers can process them. This is the reviewer’s interpretation, rather than a stated explanation from Iqbal in the material provided. The review also says the paintings build ideas about reality through arrangements of images, figures and signs.
Subway settings recur in the work. In “Subway Riders” (2026), a figure identifiable to the reviewer as Iqbal’s partner, artist Angela Dufresne, appears among passengers. The writer says Dufresne seems to be recording something and looks toward the viewer without making eye contact. The report also points to “Times Square” (2026), describing its palette as chalky and connecting its visual character to painter Ben Shahn.
How the Paintings Frame City Encounters
The review’s central point is that Iqbal’s paintings treat public life as a series of close encounters without assuming that proximity means familiarity. Subway passengers occupy shared space, yet their averted gazes, obscured faces and urban “masks,” as the reviewer describes them, keep each person partly unknowable. That focus gives the scenes relevance beyond their locations: they consider how people coexist with strangers while attending to separate thoughts, devices or tasks.
The paintings also connect that condition to the flow of images on screens. The reviewer interprets “Through the Curtains” as an attempt to show the distance between seeing violent events and making sense of them. The distinction matters: the source offers a critical reading of the artwork, not evidence about Iqbal’s stated intention or a report of a broader public response.
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Subways, Screens and Painted Reality
The source is an art review by Hyperallergic, not an announcement from the gallery or a statement by the artist. It situates the paintings within a conversation about social realism, while saying their mood is closer to Matisse’s ease than to despair. The writer also cites Ben Shahn in discussing “Times Square,” describing that painting’s palette as giving the scene a distinct sense of place.
The review includes a 2025 work, “Transparent Friend,” alongside the paintings dated 2026. It names JJ Murphy gallery as the setting and places it on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The material supplied does not give an exhibition title, opening date, closing date, medium, dimensions, or the artist’s own account of the works.
“the world is a room we share with strangers, most of whom are looking elsewhere”
— Hyperallergic review
Exhibition Dates and Artist’s Intent
The provided report does not state when the exhibition opened or closes, whether all the discussed works remain on view, or whether the gallery has published further details. It also does not include comments from Iqbal explaining her intentions. The screen-related interpretation belongs to the reviewer, and should not be treated as a direct artist statement.
The source gives no information about visitor numbers, sales, public response or any related programming. Those points cannot be confirmed from the review material.
Gallery Details Still Needed
Readers seeking to visit will need to check JJ Murphy gallery’s current listings for exhibition dates, hours and availability, since those details are absent from the report provided. Further information about the works or Iqbal’s perspective would require a gallery or artist statement, neither of which is included in the source.
Key Questions
Where are Mala Iqbal’s paintings being shown?
The review places them at JJ Murphy gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It does not provide the gallery’s street address or visiting hours.
Which paintings does the review discuss?
It names “Subway Riders” (2026), “Through the Curtains” (2026) and “Times Square” (2026), and also refers to “Transparent Friend” (2025).
What does “Through the Curtains” depict?
The review describes a scene of collapse partly hidden by a tulle curtain, a figure reacting, and another patterned curtain. The writer interprets the work as a metaphor for encountering violent images through screens.
Did Mala Iqbal explain the meaning of the paintings?
No artist statement or interview is included in the source material. The interpretations in the report are attributed to the Hyperallergic reviewer.
How long is the exhibition open?
The supplied review does not give opening or closing dates. Visitors should check directly with the gallery for current information.
Source: rss
