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Mala Iqbal’s new paintings are on view at JJ Murphy gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, according to a Hyperallergic review. Works including “Subway Riders” and “Through the Curtains” depict city crowds and consider how screens shape people’s experience of public life and violence. The source does not give exhibition dates or further gallery details.
Mala Iqbal’s new paintings are on view at JJ Murphy gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where works such as “Subway Riders” (2026) depict people sharing crowded urban spaces while remaining largely absorbed in their own worlds. A Hyperallergic review describes the exhibition as an examination of public life, mediated images and the distance between strangers.
The review describes Iqbal’s canvases as populated by figures that seem to jostle across the surface. Many are lit by orange and yellow tones, which the critic connects to life lived under electric light. Other paintings use different visual strategies to explore how people assemble or interpret what they see.
In “Through the Curtains” (2026), the review identifies a sequence of images: a scene of collapse partly hidden by a tulle curtain, a figure reacting, and a second curtain marked with a pattern resembling a pictograph. The critic reads the arrangement as an image of life filtered through screens, with violence and disaster appearing faster than viewers can process them. That is the reviewer’s interpretation, not a stated explanation from Iqbal in the source material.
Several paintings are set in subway cars, where passengers sit close together but look away or have their faces obscured. In “Subway Riders” (2026), one identifiable figure is artist Angela Dufresne, Iqbal’s partner, whom the review describes as appearing to record something herself. The article also discusses “Times Square” (2026) and “Transparent Friend” (2025).
The paintings draw attention to a familiar contradiction of city life: people can be physically close to strangers while remaining socially separate. Subway settings make that tension visible through turned faces, obstructed features and gestures that suggest attention directed elsewhere. The review’s framing connects those scenes to the ways urban residents encounter one another without necessarily forming a relationship.
“Through the Curtains” extends that concern from public space to screen viewing. Its layered images, as described by Hyperallergic, suggest a gap between seeing events and making sense of them. The subject matters beyond the gallery because many people receive news of violence and collapse through rapid streams of images. The source does not establish Iqbal’s stated intent, but the critic argues that the painting evokes the difficulty of processing that flow.
The exhibition’s relevance lies in how it uses recognizable settings and visual barriers to ask what it means to share a world with people whose attention may be elsewhere. It presents that question through painted encounters rather than a documentary account of any particular event.
urban cityscape watercolor paint set
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Scenes Across Iqbal’s Canvases
Hyperallergic’s review places the paintings in a conversation with social realism, while describing their mood as closer to the ease of Matisse. For “Times Square,” the reviewer points to a chalky palette associated with Ben Shahn and says the painting avoids turning its urban subject into despair. These are critical comparisons offered by the publication, not statements attributed to the artist.
The review also notes that Iqbal’s images build reality through arrangements of figures, signs and overlapping visual layers. Subway scenes recur, but the paintings do not present their passengers as fully accessible to one another: faces look away, are obscured, or become stylized forms. “Transparent Friend” (2025) is included in the report, though the supplied source provides no detailed description of that work.
The report identifies JJ Murphy gallery as being on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and names several works dated 2025 and 2026. It does not include an exhibition title, opening date, closing date, or a statement from Iqbal, so those details cannot be confirmed from the material provided.
““The world is a room we share with strangers, most of whom are looking elsewhere.””
— Hyperallergic review
Exhibition Details Still Missing
The source report does not provide the exhibition’s official title, dates, admission information or full list of works. It also does not include comments from Iqbal or the gallery, leaving the artist’s own account of the paintings’ subjects and methods unreported.
The reading of “Through the Curtains” as a response to screen-delivered violence belongs to the reviewer. The available material does not establish whether Iqbal has endorsed that interpretation or whether the work refers to a specific event. The article identifies Dufresne as Iqbal’s partner and as a figure in “Subway Riders,” but offers no further account of the painting’s circumstances.
Gallery Information to Follow
Readers seeking to visit will need to check JJ Murphy gallery’s current listings for exhibition dates, hours and access details; those particulars are not included in the source report. Further information from the gallery or Iqbal could clarify the show’s title, the complete selection of works and the artist’s own perspective on the themes raised by the review.
For now, the confirmed development is the presentation of the paintings at the Lower East Side gallery as reported by Hyperallergic. The source gives no announced upcoming event or next milestone, so the exhibition’s schedule and any related programming remain unknown.
Key Questions
Where are Mala Iqbal’s new paintings on view?
They are reported to be at JJ Murphy gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The source does not provide the gallery’s address or visitor information.
Which works does the review discuss?
The report discusses “Subway Riders” (2026), “Through the Curtains” (2026), “Times Square” (2026) and “Transparent Friend” (2025).
What is “Through the Curtains” about?
The review describes a partly obscured collapse scene, a reacting figure and a patterned curtain. The critic interprets the sequence as a metaphor for screens delivering images of violence faster than viewers can process them; the source does not provide Iqbal’s own explanation.
Is Angela Dufresne in one of the paintings?
Yes. Hyperallergic identifies artist Angela Dufresne, Iqbal’s partner, as a recognizable figure in “Subway Riders” (2026).
When does the exhibition close?
The source does not state the exhibition’s opening or closing dates. Check with JJ Murphy gallery for current scheduling information.
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