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Artist on Top

by Newsweek Pakistan
Emmanuel Dunand—AFP

Emmanuel Dunand—AFP

New York City, May 13, 2013

To mark “where a dialogue with life, with new beginnings, and fresh hope starts,” says Imran Qureshi, his blood-red splatters morph into delicate, filigreed patterns rendered in the style of Mughal-era miniatures. But this, his newest installation covering 8,000-square-feet of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s rooftop, is no small endeavor and certainly no mean feat. The Hyderabad-born art professor at Lahore’s National College of Arts University is the first artist to ever paint directly onto the Met’s roof. (The museum encourages visitors to walk on the work as they survey it.) “The dialogue between life and death is an important element in my work,” says Qureshi. “The particular color of red that I have been using in recent years can look so real, like blood. The red reminds me of the situation today in Pakistan, and in the world around us, where violence is almost a daily occurrence. But, somehow, people still have hope.” The installation, a new beginning and fresh hope for Pakistani art, opened on May 14 and runs through Nov. 3.

From our May 31, 2013, issue.

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