Exploring the Philosophical Values of Rifa'iyah Batik Form with 'Pelo Ati' Theme

”Batik Rifa'iyah” is a fine art product that can be categorized as a rare batik. This kind of batik is produced by batik craftsman communities which is located in Kalipucang Village, Batang, Central Java. Ahmad Rifai (1786-1870) is a figure who had an important role in Islamic propagations to enhance knowledge, aqeedah, character and moral life in Kalipucang society. One of Rifai's propagations was ”inserted” through batik visualization, and because of his strong influence also, Rifai’s name was taken as the name of a batik, namely: 'Batik Rifa'iyah'. To find the meaning in a batik work, the research focused only into the batik’s form concerning to its colors, shapes and patterns. To facilitate the initial search, it was done by inventorying the quantity of forms that always appear in several types of rifa'iah batiks, which a number were approximately 30 themes. ”Pelo Ati” was one of the batik titles chosen for the study of aesthetic principles and artistic methods. It was considered as one of batiks which has a philosophical value that the source came from Tasawwuf/Sufism teachings of Ahmad Rifa'i. To know further about Ahmad rifai teachings, it was done by studying the books written by him, namely Tarajumah and Riayatul Himmat. The form of batik 'Pelo Ati' from its colors and the visual object sides shown that it was very special and different from other batiks in the North coast of Java Island

Colour dematerialization in spiritual literature and painting

Colour in variety of art expression can be interpreted differently. This study is aiming at analyzing the colour dematerialization of Javanese spiritual literature “Falsafah Jeroning Warna” by Suprapto Kadis and a painting by Ahmad Sadali entitled “Gunung Mas”. Research was done by employing qualitative research, while data was collected by observation, interview, discussion, and documentation study. The analysis of meanings in the two art works was done in descriptive way by using the theory and the knowledge of tasawwuf or sufism, the aesthetics, and arts. Results showed that both sufis, Ahmad Sadali and Suprapto Kadis, share similarities in doing dematerialization towards colour. For them, colour was initially taken from nature (the external territory) which then experienced dematerialization when it made contact with inspiration that was created from the internal area (mental). On the other hand, the difference between the two art works lies on an understanding that colour in FJW is naturalistic mimesis in nature, meanwhile, the painting of Ahmad Sadali is naturaly abstract.</p