Peter Hristoff at the Hagia Sofia!!!!!!

The other day I got a surprise email from one of Randy's and my old firends in New York, Peter Hristoff. It was a press release for a new show of his at the Hagia Sofia Museum in Istanbul, his hometown.

New York based artist Peter Hristoff will exhibit ten rugs at the museum of
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey, opening Monday, September 19 at 6PM. The rugs
are based on drawings the artist has been working on since 1997 and combine his
signature motifs (cosmological, floral. figurative and geometric) with the
traditional structure of Anatolian carpets (halis). These works symbolize the
spiritual search inherent in human nature, regardless of religious
orientation.
The artist states:
"My interest in rugs halis and kilims was
a natural connection to the journal-like quality of my work. I am fascinated by
the diarist element in traditional Turkish rug making—the weaver incorporating
events, personal beliefs, hopes and desires with regional (traditional) symbols
into the carpets—an approach I, too, have been taking to my art making. The
seccade (prayer rug) is an object of sacred ritual, of contemplation and of
decoration. In many ways, paintings function as seccade’s for me, providing a
separate place to contemplate - a place of isolation. The prayer rug creates a
sacred space where ever it is
placed: an object charged with hope and with
spiritual connections, as well as its physical relationship to the body and to
geography. The ritual of placement, of prayer, of absolution all tap into issues
I have been addressing in my work since the early 1980s. The opportunity to
exhibit at Hagia Sophia provides me the perfect venue to present this aspect of
my work. The monument’s history as the greatest of Byzantine churches, and
subsequently as a mosque, makes it an ideal site to display works dealing with
the notion of prayer and the act of praying. Interestingly, an exhibition at the
Museum of Hagia Sophia is one more way that I am returning "home" to Turkey. I
was born in Istanbul and left Turkey when I was five years old. My paternal
grandfather (also an artist) had immigrated to Istanbul in 1926 from Bulgaria
and was a close friend of Ali Sami Boyar, the first director of the museum; they
worked together on the first stamps and currency of the young Turkish republic.
Boyar was also a friend and mentor to my father during the years that he studied
at the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts (now Mimar Sinan University). Exhibiting at
Hagia Sophia connects me to this legacy. Despite the emigration of the family, a
tradition of painting that references the homeland prevails."
Hagia Sophia,
considered to be the greatest of Byzantine structures existing in the world, was
first built in 360 AD during the reign of Constantine and then again 415.
Destroyed by the Nike rebellion in 532, it was reconstructed by the emperor
Justinian and completed in 537. After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453,
the church was turned into a mosque. Over the centuries, the building has been
damaged by both political and natural calamities, yet has endured as a monument
to human artistic achievement and as the most majestic temple ever built. In
1934, Hagia Sophia was made a museum.
The exhibition will be supplemented
with photographs, prints, books and memorabilia from the Hristoff family
archives relating to the history of the Hagia Sophia Museum
Hristoff will
simultaneously exhibit (opening September 22) paintings and drawings at
C.A.M.Gallery. Istanbul. These works explore the human dilemma of spirituality
in conflict with base desires as well as emotional conflicts such as joy vs.
fear, hope vs. despair. A fully illustrated catalog including works from both
exhibitions with essays by art historian/critic Monroe Denton and artist/writer
Michael Bennett will be available.
Peter Hristoff was born in Istanbul in
1958, and emigrated to the United States with his family in 1963. He is a
recipient of the Joan Mitchell Award in Painting and the New York Foundation for
the Arts Award in Drawing/Printmaking.
He is currently a faculty member of
the School of Visual Arts, NY. In January of 2005, Hristoff curated "Iznik:
Legendary Ceramics of Turkey" at the Visual Arts Gallery of New York. He is
currently working on a series of paintings that explore the nature of belief.

I am so excited for him to get such a great show in the country of his birth. While he is a New York-based artist, Turkey, and Anatolian Turkey in particular, figure so heavily in his art.
An example of one of these rugs. If you happen to be familiar with Peter's work (or have been to my house) you will recognize immediately some of the usual motifs both in the rug below and the painting above.

He has proposals out to get an American showing of the rugs and paintings, so I hope that we'll get to see them here.
This painting is so cool just in the JPG---I wish I could see it. Just beautiful.