Rabat MS takes the spiritual path in art

By Mehru Jaffer

JAKARTA (JP): Musician and painter Rabat MS believes the only way to stop oneself from indulging in evil is to listen to the soul and reach out to other people.

"If all those who put bombs in places where people worship paused to listen to their souls, they would not do such dreadful things to hurt other human beings," he told The Jakarta Post on the eve of the opening of his exhibition at the Regent Hotel in Kuningan, South Jakarta, last week.

"I can only pray that all those lost and misguided people of this country will appeal more to their souls every time they feel angry and frustrated in life."

His artwork shows the relationship of human beings with each other, and also man's relationship with God. The 53-year-old Rabat feels that it is the confusion between God and religion that is the cause of most of man's murderous problems. Rabat believes in the search for God, but once someone is lucky enough to find God then they have to do little else but believe.

After being obsessed with finding answers to the identity and intention of the creator of this world, Rabat recently came to the conclusion that just the belief in God is far more important than religion. God is indeed One, and religions are just the different paths different people in different corners of the world, and at different periods in history, have taken in worship of the same god.

The son of a post office master in Surabaya, Rabat recalls watching his father draw while his grandfather designed clothes and interiors for the palace in Central Java. Born in Tretes, East Java, Rabat has been painting ever since he can remember. After graduating from the Academy of Art in Surabaya (AKSERA), he taught in an elementary school before leaving for Bali, where he stayed for a decade.

In Bali he found people following a religion different than his own, and he could not help noticing how devout the Balinese are. During this time, Rabat learned the techniques of art from Le Mayeur's paintings and also formed The Balinese Artist Foundation (CITRA).

Rabat mostly did realistic portraits and landscapes, even as he continued to struggle to find answers to basic questions of identity.

Theater

He had returned to his native Java when in 1982 he expressed his love for the theater by creating a contemporary repertoire called Genta Dalam Warna.

As he sat pondering one day the eternal puzzle as to who the creator of this universe is, a wave of spirituality swept over him and overnight he moved from figurative painting to the abstract, from this world to the other.

In his mind he identifies realism with the complexity as well as the detailed beauty of this world, in contrast to the simplicity and freedom of spirit he is able to enjoy while exploring the abstract.

Rabat imagines the world was a ball of atmosphere at first, home to nothing but the elements. Then the particles of dust begged God to give them human form, to make them participate intelligently in a world so beautiful. So God created human beings.

Rabat refuses to believe in the maxim that human beings did not ask to be born. He believes instead that even as tiny specks in the atmosphere we loved life, the beauty of birth and the innocence of the newborn.

"But once we are born we forget how simple and full of goodness we once were. The longer we live life the more we pollute the purity of our spirit and seem to be attracted more easily toward the devil than toward God."

He feels that abstract painting suits him better at this stage in his life, allowing him to play freely with his ideas of simplicity and goodness, which he hopes will help him return to the wholesomeness and purity he once enjoyed as a mere dot of dust.

To share the freedom he himself enjoys, Rabat does not believe in influencing the imagination of his viewers by giving titles to his paintings.

He sincerely adheres to his beliefs, according to his only daughter, Iping.

"The one thing that I have learned from my father is never to preach about what I believe in," said Iping, 28, who is also her father's private secretary.

Like her father, she would like to share her beliefs with those around her by practicing them.

"I don't ever recall my parents telling me to do this or not to do that. On my part, I just emulate whatever I see and hear them do and say." said Iping.

The paintings of Rabat MS are on exhibit until Feb. 6, 2001, in the lobby of the Regent Hotel, Jl. Rasuna Said, Kuningan, South Jakarta.