art is a lie... (1)

“We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.”

– Pablo Picasso 

(Kita semua tahu bahwa seni bukanlah kebenaran. Seni adalah kebohongan yang menyadarkan kita akan kebenaran, setidaknya kebenaran yang memang dibuat supaya dapat kita mengerti. Seorang seniman harus mengetahui dengan jalan seperti apa ia mengungkapkan kepada orang lain kebenaran dari kebohongannya)

Hampir di semua sekolah, di semua jenjang pendidikan, ada satu—atau dua—guru yang mendapat gelar kehormatan “killer”. Beruntungnya, gelar itu tidak berarti sebagaimana harfiahnya, tapi hanya sebuah kata yang menggambarkan ketegasan—karena tidak sopan menyebutnya galak, atau karena mata pelajaran yang diampunya terlalu sulit sehingga beliau dinilai “guru yang tidak mudah”. 

Coba flashback dan temukan kembali sosok tersebut… 

Tidak ada? 

Mungkin masa sekolah Anda kurang seru, hehe 

Coba ingat-ingat lagi…mungkin beliau adalah wali kelas III saat SD, atau guru mata pelajaran Biologi saat SMP, atau…The Legend and the Only One guru Seni Rupa SMA?

Ketika Bapak saya membuatkan sketsa berbagai objek dengan sangat baik, Ibu saya menggambar rumah yang seperti akan roboh, kerbau yang seperti bebek, dan ayam yang seperti telur. Dari sanalah ibu saya bercerita tentang sulitnya mata pelajaran seni rupa semasa SMA. Beliau bersama kawan sekelasnya harus duduk di depan gerbang sekolah, lalu melukis apa yang mereka lihat di hadapan mereka.

Saat itulah sketsa kerbau pertama ibu saya dibuat, bersama hamparan sawah musim tanam sebagai latarnya, dan….lukisan itu tak pernah selesai, apalagi dinilai. Seorang kawan berbaik hati membantu dalam tugas tersebut,  menyelamatkannya dari Kaidah No. 1 melukis yang sering disampaikan guru seni rupanya, “Tidak ada lukisan yang salah…cuma jelek.”

Belasan tahun kemudian, guru seni rupa ibu saya menjadi guru seni rupa kakak saya, dan empat tahun setelah kakak saya, beliau menjadi guru seni rupa saya juga…What a beautiful life.

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Hourglass

The phone was ringing,
and I could hear your voice saying,

“Girl, your dad will go fishing with his friends next week.

They asked him yesterday, ‘Will your little daughter join us? Just like before — she was good at fishing.’

Your dad laughed and said, ‘I don’t have a little daughter anymore.’

It was years ago, Girl. It seems like old people, like me, are trapped in the past. We struggle to erase beautiful old memories, yet easily forget what we just did. I think it’s because we know time is flying, so we refuse to simply let it go.

So your dad told them, ‘My girl hasn’t gone fishing since the last time we did. She’s studying now, miles away.’”

“I’m 22 now,” I said.
“Sure, you’re 22, Girl.”

And then, silence…

“Mom, I keep remembering the time when Piyokta sat on the back of my bicycle, holding my red-and-white uniform tightly. Those days — when she was only a first grader. It was the dry season. I can still feel the warmth of her hands, the smell of her baby powder, and the fog passing across our faces. She’s taller than me now. It’s a little funny.”

My mother said, “I still remember the mornings when I had to cook early, angrily telling you all to eat breakfast. But the three of you always said, ‘We’re going to be late!’ That wasn’t my fault — you three should’ve woken up earlier. Still, I happily watched you go to school: Piyokta in her red-and-white uniform, you in your white-and-navy blue, and your older sister in her white-and-gray. The three of you rode your bicycles to school together.”

“I’m 22 now…”

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Hutan Pinus: Kenangan seorang Anak dan Ayah

PINE FOREST

by Gabriela Mistral
(Children Winner of Nobel Prize For Poetry)

Let us go now into the forest.

Trees will pass by your face,

and I will stop and offer you to them,

but they cannot bend down.

The night watches over its creatures,

except for the pine trees that never change:

the old wounded springs that spring

blessed gum, eternal afternoons.

If they could, the trees would lift you

and carry you from valley to valley,

and you would pass from arm to arm,

a child running

from father to father.

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and the Earth...

And when the prayer has been concluded, disperse within the land and seek from the bounty of Allah, and remember Allah often that you may succeed. (QS. Al Jumuah:10)

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The Molecule of Life

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason. (QS. Al Baqarah: 164)

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