11 attacks unfolded only a few miles to the south, terrorist acts are far less common in the United States than they are in the Middle East and parts of South Asia, including Mr. One reason, I guess, is that although the Sept. It amazed me that someone would react so buffoonishly to a work of such serious import and that none of the other several dozen people on the terrace seemed to pay much attention or take evident offense. “People were crying - and, at first, I thought maybe I had done something wrong!” In an interview in a small book that accompanies the Met’s rooftop exhibition, he recalls the personal and intense response: “It was amazing,” he said. Qureshi made a similar piece for the 2011 Sharjah Biennial. Two years ago, in the courtyard of a modern building in the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Qureshi’s work depends heavily on context for its emotional impact.
This year visitors will discover something strikingly different: the 8,000-square-foot terrace is splattered with paint the color of dried blood. Every year its pastoral bliss high above Central Park is complemented by some sort of benign sculpture exhibition, usually three-dimensional works of formal decorum or playful ingenuity. The roof garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the lovelier places to go in New York during the warm seasons.