Lollipop Trees on Concrete Tiles

Kristen (fourth from left) and fellow TAG members experience The Roof Garden Commission: Imran Qureshi, open through November 3, 2013 (weather permitting)

«What happened here? Did someone spill paint on these tiles? Is this supposed to be blood? Is there blood all over the roof of The Metropolitan Museum of Art?!»

The Roof Garden Commission: Imran Qureshi, titled And How Many Rains Must Fall Before the Stains Are Washed Clean, is a jarring experience, with seeping contrasts that push and pull you as your toes dance across the surface of the Pakistani artist's work.

New York City's hard, grey buildings barrel past trees and reach for the sky. Bushes line the concrete walls of the Cantor Roof, vines drip from the entrance, and Central Park blossoms directly below. Nature and city are at war.

You cringe at the sight of violent, haphazard red splashes of paint, only to peer more closely and discover the delicate, detailed leaves of lollipop trees (trees whose leaves radiate outward in circular formation). Wildness and restraint are at war.

Boundaries are placed where Qureshi's work suddenly stops and the bare concrete takes over, only to be destroyed as the work continues on the walls. Chaos and emptiness, constraint and pervasiveness, are at war.

Finally, the work is being exhibited at a museum, but the public is welcome to touch the art as part of the experience. The work is a painting, but it's on the ground, and not the wall. Rules and freedom are at war.

These fighting contrasts dare the viewer to decide: Which side are you on?