From November 2015 through June 2016, the visual artist and educator Peter Hristoff—a 2015-16 artist in residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art—will engage with Museum visitors in a series of creative, multi-faceted public programs that demonstrate the vibrancy, diversity, and beauty of contemporary Islamic culture within the context of the Met’s collection. The residency—one of a few at the Met this year—is a recent example of the continuing evolution of involvement with living artists at the Museum.
In a MetFridays Conversation with an Artist, Hristoff will draw upon his interest in painting, drawing, printmaking, and traditional Turkish rug making as he involves the public in discussion of a richly patterned 19th-century Turkish prayer rug in the Museum’s galleries (Friday, November 13, at 7:00 p.m.). The gallery talk, which is free with Museum admission, will be preceded by a free concert that is part of the Moroccan Court Music Series in the Patti Cadby Birch Court. For details, visit the MetFridays webpage on the Museum’s website. Later this winter, Hristoff will take part in a MetFridays Artists on Artworks gallery talk (Friday, January 29, at 6:30 p.m.), and in the spring, he will join photographer and painter Paul D’Innocenzo for a public conversation about drawing (Thursday, March 3, at 11:00 a.m.).
Hristoff will also lead a suite of drawing programs through which participants will explore the upcoming exhibition Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs (on view April 27–July 24, 2016) and the Met’s permanent collection.
In addition, the artist will work with the Met’s high school interns while they investigate Ottoman rugs, draw inspiration from works of art in the Museum’s collection, and create their own rug designs in dialogue with makers in Turkey who will then weave the designs. The resulting works will be displayed publicly in the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education in spring 2016 to coincide with the exhibition Court and Cosmos.
Through regular posts to the Now at the Met blog on the Museum’s website, Hristoff will discuss the Met as an extension of the artist’s studio—a source of inspiration, creativity, and knowledge.
About the Artist
Born in Istanbul to a family of Bulgarian artists, Hristoff has lived in the United States since he was a child. He is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts and Hunter College, City University of New York, and has received grants and awards from the Joan Mitchell Foundation (for painting), New York Foundation for the Arts (drawing), and The American Turkish Society’s Moon and Stars Project (cultural interaction between the United States and Turkey). He is a practicing artist and a teacher of painting and drawing at the School of Visual Arts. His work is represented in the Met’s
collection.
About the Museum’s 2015-16 Artists in Residence
Hristoff joins the Museum’s other artists in residence this year: jazz pianist Vijay Iyer, who is expanding the role of performance in museums into the realm of cutting-edge live arts, and Chiara String Quartet (Rebecca Fischer, violin; Hyeyung Julie Yoon, violin; Jonah Sirota, viola; and Gregory Beaver, cello), which is exploring the far reaches of the string quartet genre.
Through interaction with living artists from various disciplines, the Museum serves as an incubator for new ideas, demonstrates the vital role of artists in our culture, and explores creative interaction with works of art across time and cultures.
The Met champions living artists and supports their practices through commissions, acquisitions, and exhibitions; research; public programs and performances; artist gatherings; collaborative projects such as residencies; and The Artist Project and other digital platforms.
Credits
Peter Hristoff residency: Made possible by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
Moroccan Court Music series: Made possible by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art and The Persepolis Foundation.
Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs: Made possible by the NoRuz at the Met Fund.
The Artist Project: Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
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November 12, 2015
Image: Artist in Residence Peter Hristoff. Photo by Jonathas Nazareth
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