How does an artist depict the human spirit’s journey? The Austrian Baha’i artist Claus Mayrhofer, who adopted the artist’s name Barabbas, attempted to do just that throughout his career.

Barabbas was an extreme individualist in his work as a painter. No art historian has been able to assign him or his work to one of the existing art movements.

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Born in Vienna, a cosmopolitan city known for producing unique works for centuries in music, painting, and science, Barabbas was fascinated by the avant-garde jazz scene there as a young man. In 1967, he became a Baha’i, and the principles of his faith were reflected in his impressive paintings.

In 1986, Barabbas moved to Bali, where he spent three years as part of a UNESCO transcultural exchange program sponsored by the Ministry of Education, working with Udayana University in Denpasar. He then moved to Australia, where he lived in Bendigo until his death in 2009. He was also a member of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’i community in the greater Bendigo area. Barabbas’s visual work has been shown in 45 exhibitions in Australia, Germany, France, and Austria.

What inspired Barabbas and made his paintings so unique? Let him speak for himself from his diary entry dated November 22, 1990:

From the beginning, my painting had nothing to do with pop art, psychedelic art, etc. My painting developed through my engagement with the carvings of the Papuans on the Sepik (River), with Maori tattoos and with Hundertwasser. I also immersed myself in the art of Gauguin — who directed my attention to the Pacific region — Kandinsky, Kupka, Paul Klee and Klimt.

Barabbas worked as an artist in an extremely individualistic realm, in which Native American folk art, the magic of the Orient, the primitive, fairy-tale quality of the naive, as well as abstraction and pop art, all flowed in. As he himself emphasized, Barabbas was concerned with the “timeless capture of the unmeasurable,” for which he coined the term Overground in the 1960s. For him, Overground meant a counterpoint to “underground” — signifying subtle spirituality, unity in art, and the desire to integrate this artistic inspiration into all areas of human life.

Berthold Ecker, art historian and curator of modern art at the Vienna Museum, described Barabbas as the most paradigmatic Austrian painter of the 1960s and 1970s, saying that his art reveals a powerful, thoughtful, and consistently developed body of work in which playful lightness and the primal power of the forces of nature are in a tense exchange.

The Baha’i writings explicitly value art and our engagement in it very highly — as an expression of the spiritual. Abdu’l-Baha said:

All Art is a gift of the Holy Spirit. When this light shines through the mind of a musician, it manifests itself in beautiful harmonies. Again, shining through the mind of a poet, it is seen in fine poetry and poetic prose. When the Light of the Sun of Truth inspires the mind of a painter, he produces marvellous pictures. These gifts are fulfilling their highest purpose, when showing forth the praise of God.

While Barabbas initially painted small-format pictures, in the 1970s, his attention turned to the creation of monumental, large-format works. In 1975, he created the 200 square meter painting “Big Bang,” also called “Genesis,” which is dedicated to the unity of humanity. It was exhibited in 1975 and 2013 in the Vienna Künstlerhaus. The realization of the unity of humanity, a coexistence of all people in peace and harmony, is one of the essential ethical principles of the Baha’i Faith. 

Barabbas symbolically depicted numerous Baha’i principles in this gigantic painting, whose rediscovery Gerhard F. Schweter described in his speech at the opening of the exhibition in the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 2013

The ’Big Bang’ had an extremely dramatic fate, and it is only thanks to the initiative of a few committed people that the monumental painting is hanging here at all. After its first exhibition in 1975, it was stored in the basement of the Künstlerhaus, was forgotten, did not appear in a later inventory and was rediscovered in 2011 thanks to the persistence of family members. So it was as good as gone for 36 years. This is not the only reason why it can be compared to Gustav Klimt’s ’Beethoven Frieze’ from 1902. In the extraordinary giant painting ’Big Bang’ we experience the painter Barabbas as a deeply heartfelt mystic and partly also as a romantic. He shows us a concrete utopia based on the writings of a new universal religion whose ultimate goal is the unity of humanity.

Today, Barabbas’s painting “Big Bang” is the property of the City of Vienna, displayed in the depot of the Vienna Museum.

Barabbas worked on the mammoth painting, as he called it, for three months. He later commented on it in a letter: 

You have to remember that I painted the giant picture like a scroll (from right to left), but never had more than five to seven meters of canvas in front of me to work on. In other words: what I had previously painted was rolled away so that I could continue working. 

Accordingly, the painting can be viewed as having three distinct parts: right, center, and left.

The Right Part of ‘Big Bang’

On the far right, Barabbas depicted the creation of the universe. Then man appears. His first cry is indicated in the stylized symbol of the sunflower, slightly to the right of the center, which represents the beginning of life. Further development is symbolized by the stylized representation of the formula of Einstein’s theory of relativity: E=mc². This is followed, in the left quarter, by a double figure walking forward, representing the dual nature of humans as both physical and spiritual beings.

The Middle Part of ‘Big Bang’

In the middle of the painting, the path of life leads through trials to the goal of the incomprehensible, depicted as the yellow light in the center. Without conscious effort, this journey of life into the light is not possible. First, we must climb the mountain of purifying our ego.

After passing spiritual tests and overcoming the mountain of the ego, the path continues through a gate — also a symbol for The Bab, Baha’u’llah’s herald and predecessor, whose name means the gate. This represents the birth of a new spiritual existence. Those who are not attached to worldly and material things, symbolized by the two pastel-colored sunflowers, show that only light and transparent beings can float through this gate.

Attracted by the light, the purified person immerses himself in the eternal mystery — the tabernacle, the proximity of the Creator. In the innermost core, emitting dazzling and radiant light, is the Baha’i symbol of the “Greatest Name:” “Ya Baha’u’l-Abha” — which, in English, means: “O Thou Glory of Glories,” and refers to the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah. (This sacred symbol is not visible in most photographs and can only be seen in the original painting.)

This Baha’i message of the oneness of humanity refers to the beginning of an age of global unity. From this bright center, nine rays emanate in all directions. In a sense, the concept of the Big Bang is repeated here, but this time on a spiritual level — a new humanity is created, and the impetus is given for a further step in human evolution.

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The Left Part of ‘Big Bang’

In the “Big Bang,” everything begins anew from the center, and everything is in flux. The future leads to a new beginning, and a new world is created. The left side — the end of the picture — is actually not an end. The large, hanging yellow drops on the left side mean that the spiritual development of humanity continues and always will. Barabbas said: “Actually, the whole picture drips and runs from my longing heart. It is dedicated to the unity of humanity.”

Also, on the left side of the painting, on the way to the future, a house by a lake, mountains, and forest appears in an air bubble. On the far left of the painting, one of Baha’u’llah’s “Hidden Words” appears: “O Son of Man! Rejoice in the gladness of thine heart, that thou mayest be worthy to meet Me and to mirror forth My beauty.”

With this work, Barabbas wanted to depict the cycle of life and creation, full of intense colors like precious stones, along with the mysterious labyrinths where we can each go on an external and internal journey of discovery, indulge, dream, and find our true selves.

This essay was initially published at: https://www.perspektivenwechsel-blog.de/bahai-artikel/barabbas-kuenstler

(The rights to all images in this article belong to the author.)

“My life’s goal as an artist is to unlock the secrets to the oldest stories and create new ones,” wrote Oletha DeVane, a Baha’i multidisciplinary artist.

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Oletha DeVane, the former director of Tuttle Art Gallery, was one of the first African American artists invited to the United Arab Emirates as an Artist-in-Residence. Her work has been featured in numerous museums and galleries and collected by the Hilton Hotel in Baltimore, Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Johns Hopkins University museums, the James E. Lewis Museum of Art, and The Harbor Bank of Maryland. 

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As a big fan of Oletha’s art, I was excited to learn more about the spiritual and historical inspiration behind Oletha’s artwork that honors our enslaved, African, and female ancestors.

Radiance Talley: Hi, Oletha! Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Can you share how the Baha’i writings inspire you as an artist? 

Oletha DeVane: The writings revealed the highest level of social consciousness for me when [I was] growing up in the ‘60s. I had learned about the [Baha’i] Faith from our neighbors, Albert and Ruth James. I wanted to become a Baha’i at 13 years old, the year the four Black girls were killed at the 16th Street Baptist Church. The country was steeped in hatred, and the meetings in the James’s home were a revelation about oneness and equality that was spiritually and conceptually important for me at the time. I felt safe in a community of people that embraced me as a child. The first two [quotes by Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, in The] Hidden Words are my favorite:

O SON OF SPIRIT!
My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting. 

O SON OF SPIRIT!
The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.

All [The Hidden Words] pointed to what was needed to make social change. The writings are so metaphorically and symbolically poetic with references to light, water, nature, and the micro/macro connection to humanity’s life and the spirit.

Radiance: Can you tell us about your journey as a multidisciplinary artist and how it led you to your current focus on unlocking the secrets of old stories while creating new ones?

Oletha: The journey doesn’t stop. I have many questions and curiosities about other cultures, our society, [our] people, our future, and our practices. The story of humankind is an ancient one, with much of it forgotten or hidden. How can we understand or define what we cannot know except through our five senses and, ultimately, [through] conscious effort to know ourselves [and] gain knowledge? Imagine how we might define what’s unknown. It’s the stories we tell ourselves. 

Abdu’l-Baha [one of the central figures of the Baha’i Faith] wrote:

EXISTENCE is of two kinds: one is the existence of God which is beyond the comprehension of man. He, the invisible, the lofty and the incomprehensible, is preceded by no cause but rather is the Originator of the cause of causes. He, the Ancient, hath had no beginning and is the all-independent. The second kind of existence is the human existence. It is a common existence, comprehensible to the human mind, is not ancient, is dependent and hath a cause to it. The mortal substance does not become eternal and vice versa; the human kind does not become a Creator and vice versa. The transformation of the innate substance is impossible.

In the world of existence—that which is comprehensible—there are stages of mortality: the first stage is the mineral world, next is the vegetable world. In the latter world the mineral doth exist but with a distinctive feature which is the vegetable characteristic. Likewise in the animal world, the mineral and vegetable characteristics are present and in addition the characteristics of the animal world are to be found, which are the faculties of hearing and of sight. In the human world the characteristics of the mineral, vegetable and animal worlds are found and in addition that of the human kind, namely the intellectual characteristic, which discovereth the realities of things and comprehendeth universal principles.”

I believe our responsibility is to encompass and understand our human stories that awaken us to material and spiritual progress. It’s the ancient stories of falls and rises, of war and peace, to grace and love.

Radiance: Can you explain how your art explores diverse social identities and cultural interpretations? How do you integrate these themes into your artistic practice?

Oletha: As a woman of African descent, I look back to my ancestors, the promises of all religions, and the origin of the 19th-century term “race.” Baha’u’llah’s ultimate promise [was] confirmed in His own words: 

The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty.

As a visual artist, I use multiple media (painting, collage, video, public art), which allow me to examine my place in the world by trying to make sense of how we got here at this moment in history. Our collective ignorance is what stagnates societies, and I’m trying to do work that integrates intergenerational stories and histories that shape us. For those ancestors who survived the Middle Passage and enslavement, [those] stories are as relevant as the Holocaust survivors and those who have faced genocides. 

Radiance: Absolutely! My favorite piece of yours is the “Memorial to Those Enslaved and Freed” that you designed for the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland. Can you share the inspiration behind the memorial?

Oletha: The memorial has always been about recognizing and honoring those Black men, women, and children who, through their forced labor, made John McDonogh a wealthy man. It is about the aspiration and the resilience of a people who served in a capacity that made them invisible. Freedom was always the aspiration; they sought their freedom through any means necessary — you worked yourself to death to get free through manumission, or you ran away. From my lens, I am looking at how people were treated, what allowed them to survive, [and] what was the dignity in their lives? 

Radiance: What are your favorite pieces that you’ve created to honor our ancestors? 

Oletha: That’s a difficult question. However, to name a few: the print series of Harriet Tubman, the “Spirit Sculptures,” which are meant to harness blessings, and most recently, the “Universal N’kisi Woman.”

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Radiance: We’d love to learn more about them! Can you walk us through your creative process for these pieces and describe the symbolism that you used?

Oletha: Harriet Tubman is symbolized in my work as the oracle: intelligent, courageous, and a fearless fighter for freedom. Tubman is featured in a series of solar etchings from (2017-19), and I adapted a previously unknown photograph of her (ca.1822-1913) and used it as the basis for the narrative prints. Some of them include the seedpods of the sweet gum tree, which littered the forest floor when she escaped with [her] family from Maryland’s Eastern Shore plantation. The seedpods represent the obstacle to freedom that those enslaved had to walk across barefoot.

There are many “Spirit Sculptures,” but the one acquired by the Baltimore Museum of Art has the most significance to me — “Saint for My City” (2010). It is an avatar disguised as an astral-Black holy figure. The pedestal is embellished with the names of African diasporic deities (Isis, Ogun, Horus, Dumballa, etc). It is a memorial to people killed at the time, represented by bullet casing. The Black saint with outstretched arms channels the spirit of solace to Baltimore and the many Black people undergoing oppression through gun violence. 

“Universal N’kisi Woman” (2021-22) is informed by an evolving worldview of Africa’s influence in the arts. It represents the retention of African belief systems, which are indigenous to the Congo. The N’kisi is a sacred form used in communities to settle disputes [and] provide counseling and advice. The nkisi, or minkisi, is a figure whose relationship to the community is to guide, protect, and dispense healing or justice. I chose to make a female N’kisi for the community to interact with by hammering a bead while engaged in silent prayers, concerns, or healing messages. 

Radiance: What inspired these particular works, and what significance do they hold for you personally or artistically?

Oletha: Religious practices of freed [enslaved people] at the turn of the 19th century attempted to maintain their cultural origin, which today has informed Pan-African identity. Colonization destroyed the agency of African beliefs in the Americas, and the spiritual practices of syncretism retained the cultural Indigenous spirit. It’s what keeps me interested in origin stories, specifically as a Black artist and a Baha’i. 

Radiance: Since March is Women’s History Month, can you explain how your art commemorates and celebrates the vital role of women in our national and global history?

Oletha: Most of my work reflects issues women face from explicit treatment of inequality, sexual exploitation, imprisonment, and endurance. [For example], the biblical story of Hagar metaphorically speaks of the struggle and strength of generations of women who endured injustice. It’s a story that resonated with generations of Black women who suffered injustice, and it’s a story that was told in Black churches across the country about the African woman in the household of [the] prophet Abraham. It prompted me to create the piece entitled “Hagar’s Dress in Her Exile,” made from chains and burlap (2013).

Radiance: In what ways do you see art as a tool for social change and community engagement, particularly concerning the honoring and preservation of diverse ancestries and histories?

Oletha: The Baha’i writings elevate the arts to do just that. Historically, if we look through the ages, art has been a considerable means of communication with the earliest of drawings and sounds. As sentient beings on a spectrum, we want others to experience what we see, feel, and think. Our inherent expressive ability is specifically geared to how we perceive our world and the changes we can make. Think about the art movements over the last 300 years, from the Renaissance to the Bauhaus to African Art to Abstract Expressionists, and so on. These movements all had a major impact on the cultures. Ideas and actions creatively materialize in a society based on its overarching philosophy, and some thoughts are better than others to manifest social change. 

One aspect of the arts is visual, but there is also the written and spoken word, sound, and movement (music and dance), all of which can take on multiple forms and combinations. When we raise the question, can art be a tool for social change? My answer is, yes, it can, but what new ways will we use to connect communities and vigorously educate [people] to understand the historical importance of art to society?

Radiance: Thank you, Oletha, for describing your beautiful artwork and sharing the historical and spiritual inspiration behind your pieces that honor our ancestors. Baha’u’llah wrote that “when it [the Sun of Truth] manifesteth itself in the mirrors of the hearts of craftsmen, it unfoldeth new and unique arts, and when reflected in the hearts of those that apprehend the truth it revealeth wondrous tokens of true knowledge and discloseth the verities of God’s utterance.” I can certainly see this light and spirit reflected in your craft.

You can view Oletha DeVane’s catalog, “Oletha DeVane: Spectrum of Light and Spirit,” at https://cadvc.umbc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/247/2024/01/Oletha-DeVane-Spectrum-of-light-and-spirit-catalog.pdf. To order, click here: https://www.artbook.com/9780960088546.html.

“I’m inspired by his ability to see the truth, his willingness to enter into a space where he knew he was going to be the only one, and the courage that took,” says Masud Olufani, an Atlanta-based Baha’i actor, writer, and multidisciplinary artist, when I asked how Robert Turner inspires him. 

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It’s poetic that Masud made history by becoming the first African American to create a Baha’i monument, following his design of a memorial for Robert Turner, the first African American Baha’i.

How Robert Turner Became the First African American Baha’i

Robert Turner, born in 1855/56, became a Baha’i during the summer of 1898 after accompanying philanthropist and suffragist Phoebe Hearst on a trip to Paris. Robert, who served as Phoebe’s butler, studied the Baha’i Faith after a Baha’i visited her flat in Paris and shared the Baha’i teachings.

Robert often traveled with Phoebe after her husband, George Hearst, passed away. Around the same time Robert became a Baha’i, Phoebe also embraced the faith. She decided to make the dangerous trip to ‘Akká, Palestine (now present-day Israel), to meet Abdu’l-Baha, who was held as a prisoner of conscience by the Ottoman Empire in their efforts to suppress the spread of the Baha’i Faith. She brought 12 people with her, including Robert.

​​At first, Robert waited outside the room where the others were meeting with Abdu’l-Baha — one of the central figures of the Baha’i Faith — because Robert felt that, as a servant, he should not enter. However, when Abdu’l-Baha realized that Robert had arrived with the others, Abdu’l-Baha promptly left the room and his other guests to look for him. Louis Gregory, another early African American Baha’i who was posthumously appointed as a Hand of the Cause of God in the Baha’i Faith, later recounted what happened:

At the sight of [Abdu’l-Baha] he dropped upon his knees and exclaimed: “My Lord! My Lord! I am not worthy to be here!” `Abdu’l-Bahá raised him to his feet, and embraced him like a loving father.

When describing Robert Turner, Louis Gregory wrote:

Robert Turner, with what our Persian brothers call ‘Iron Sight,’ had his clear vision of Reality. Henceforth he refused — to use his own expression — to ‘let the world throw dust in his eyes.’

“This is someone who comes out of enslavement, and something happened. There was a transformation that took place in his interaction with Abdul Baha that touched something in him and gave him a different vision of himself…self-respect, a sense of his own value, his sense of his own worth,” says Masud as he reflected on the significance of that moment.

“He’s not rich. He works as a domestic servant, you know. And yet, he had gone through a transformation in his life to such an extent that he was not going to allow himself to be framed within the context of that social standing. He’s like, ‘No, that might be what I do, but that’s not who I am.’”

Masud Olufani’s Symbolism in the Robert Turner Memorial

Abdu’l-Baha told Robert that “if he remained firm and steadfast until the end, he would be the door through which a whole race would enter the Kingdom.” This quote formed the overall conceptual basis of Masud’s design for the memorial.

RELATED: Invisible No Longer: Robert Turner as a Doorway to the Kingdom

“There’s this transformation where a person’s being becomes this portal, to which others can get a glimpse of a truth or reality,” says Masud.

The massive granite superstructure that Masud and his team used symbolizes Robert’s grounded character. He says, “It’s fixed. It’s not movable. It’s not going anywhere. It’s dependable. It’s reliable, right?” 

He explained that the bronze door affixed to this granite symbolizes “him opening himself up” and becoming a passageway “from one plane of existence to the next, from one reality to the next.” The burial marker on the ground in front of it represents a boat. “I was thinking about that in regards to how his ancestors came over to America via a boat [or] via a vessel from West Africa to the United States.”

Masud says, “So you’ll see at the base of the burial marker, there’s an Adinkra symbol, which is Sankofa, which means in order to understand your present and to know where you’re going, you have to know your past, right? So that’s on the burial marker at the foot. And then, at the other end, the second inheritance is the revelation of God, and that is the nine-pointed star, which, you know, the number nine in the Baha’i faith means unity.”

Between Robert’s “ancestral cultural inheritance” and “spiritual inheritance” lies a quote from the following tablet that Abdu’l-Baha wrote after Robert passed away:

As to Mr. Robert, the news of his ascension saddened the hearts. He was in truth most devoted. Gracious God! What a shining candle was lighted within that black-coloured lamp. Praise be to God that this candle ascended from its earthly lamp unto the immortal Kingdom, to gleam and shine in the assemblage of heaven…

Masud Olufani’s Other Artwork About Robert Turner

The Robert Turner memorial wasn’t the only art Masud was inspired to create about this first African American Baha’i. He also created a piece for his friends, Gouya and Payam Zamani, titled “Child of the Radiant Night.” 

Masud thought about how “two major events took place in the blackness of night in Baha’i history. One of them was Baha’u’llah’s [the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith] incarceration in the black pit. He gets an intimation of His station there, in the darkness…before that, the Bab [the herald and forerunner of Baha’u’llah] meets with the first Letter of the Living, Mulla Husayn, …And He reveals who He is to Mulla Husayn — that also takes place at night. So, then I was taking those two significant historical events within the context of the Baha’i faith and pairing that with the blackness of the skin of Robert Turner. ” 

Masud described the elements of his piece: 

There’s a broken curved staff that proceeds down from the top painting portion to a dish that’s filled with gold dust, and he’s touching that gold dust. This staff is colored in blackness. It’s stained really rich black with powdered graphite and charcoal. So, it gives this kind of aura, this kind of vibrational kind of look to it. And when he touches that dish, which I refer to as his encounter with the revelation, that gold begins to fill his being and begins to transition up the staff.

And so, there’s a transformation that takes place, right? As he’s encountering the gold of the revelation, you know, it’s impacting his spirit and all of that. So, there’s a drawing of Robert Turner’s face in the piece, and around the eye is the nine-pointed star again from the Baha’i Faith. And then, there’s a long part of the piece which has some African geometry on it, again, referring back to his ancestral heritage.

Before Robert Turner passed away, Abdu’l-Baha wrote the following tablet to him:

O THOU who art pure in heart, sanctified in spirit, peerless in character, beauteous in face! Thy photograph hath been received revealing thy physical frame in the utmost grace and the best appearance. Thou art dark in countenance and bright in character. Thou art like unto the pupil of the eye which is dark in color, yet it is the fount of light and the revealer of the contingent world.

I have not forgotten nor will I forget thee. I beseech God that He may graciously make thee the sign of His bounty amidst mankind, illumine thy face with the light of such blessings as are vouchsafed by the merciful Lord, single thee out for His love in this age which is distinguished among all the past ages and centuries.

“Child of the Radiant Night” was truly a fitting title for Masud’s latest piece about this radiant soul.

The Unique Role of the Arts in Preserving History

In our conversation, Masud and I reflected on the unique role that art has in preserving our history. 

“All human experience is, you know, passed down, it’s recorded, it’s codified, it’s expressed through creativity through the apparatus of the arts, right?” Masud asked. “And the arts, we’re told that in the Baha’i writings, they touch the human spirit.” Baha’u’llah wrote:

Arts, crafts and sciences uplift the world of being, and are conducive to its exaltation.

Masud continued, “Think about human experience without creativity in the arts. It would be…one bland, boring place, you know, and the arts are really, in a sense, as Robert Turner was — they’re a doorway into a deeper reality, a hidden meaning. They expand and open us up to new experiences and new realities.”

He invites everyone to “lift up and elevate our artists in creativity and constantly encourage them to come to the table and break bread and learn from what they have to share and offer.”

The renowned Canadian Baha’i painter and artist Otto Donald Rogers attempted to define what characterizes a good painting in his stirring, insightful essay “The Artist and the Grammarian:” 

Like a good piece of music, its presence is absolutely precise; it sings, it vibrates in just the right fashion because all of the parts are connected, and the “whole” or “significant form” is achieved. The philosophers of art equate this truth of form or “being at one with a greater reality” with the highest possible achievement for the artist as a mystic seeker. 

The whole nature of pictorial art has to do with the creation of a reality suspended between the material and spiritual realms, with the sense of peace being the inner condition reflective of the attributes of the soul. … the Revelation of Baha’u’llah simply surrounds it, elevates it, and pushes it forward into the future. … The principles of compositional order that are sought in art can be experienced in the Sacred Writings, thus confirming the relationship of the arts to spiritual development. 

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Rogers’ own abstract paintings, because they explore the sacred spaces of mystical love and spiritual devotion, hover between the material and the spiritual realms in an atmosphere all their own, untethered from ordinary reality but governed by inner coherence, or form, within the borders of a canvas.

Rogers likened the sensibility of the artist to the Baha’i seeker, insofar as both have inspired minds, both are attracted to beauty, both seek forms with which to memorialize that beauty, and both, he says, can find their heart’s desire in the Baha’i revelation, as in this passage from Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith:

In this [spiritual] journey the seeker becometh witness to a myriad changes and transformations, confluences and divergences. He beholdeth the wonders of Divinity in the mysteries of creation and discovereth the paths of guidance and the ways of his Lord. Such is the station reached by them that search after God, and such are the heights attained by those who hasten unto Him.

Rogers’ words, beautiful and instructive and redolent of imaginative fire, speak for themselves:

I want to … illustrate how my experience as an artist and as a Bahá’í has become an interwoven pattern. … [The Baha’i] Revelation impressed me as being all-embracing and of such aesthetic potency, and it also embodied the idea of order, which appealed so much to my mind and my soul. I experienced the Sacred Writings as also embodying the language of art, so I came to understand that art was necessary for the development of higher consciousness. I am not sure that this fact is as fully appreciated as it might be. For example, we think of art as a decorative thing, but not necessarily as a means of education, as a means of elevating consciousness. 

… I came to understand that if you married poetry and order you would be in very good hands. Thus when I embraced my gift as an artist, it seemed quite logical because it consisted of striving for order and being poetically intoxicated. 

While Rogers asks us to ponder the spiritual and artistic potency of the Baha’i revelation, he also wants all of us to think of ourselves “as being artists, because we are all engaged in a creative endeavor.” 

In other words, it is all of a piece, of one revelatory Design to be enacted on one vast canvas, one inspired form into which all of us are invited to enter and to create.

In this way, in aligning ourselves with the Baha’i teachings, we take possession of ourselves as artists-in-the-making, even as new creations, new art forms ourselves, spiritually ordered and aesthetically beautiful. But we must do more to develop our spiritual imaginations, Rogers tells us, and take what he calls a leap into an unknown place, into a greater mind, a “going over the edge” and into vast spaces of the Baha’i spiritual imagination.

RELATED: Four Spiritual Qualities For Every Artist to Practice

Yes, the work of the Baha’i artist is challenging: 

… it is a combination of order, preparation, and conscious knowledge. [But it] has to be imaginative … The poetic aspect of every endeavor is absolutely crucial to its success because without poetry there is no intoxication and we seem to like to be intoxicated, or we need to be. We’re designed to be “on fire.”

The poetry of the creative word “fires the imagination and quickens the mind.” The creative word, which crackles and burns beneath the prose of the revelation, moves us to enter the vast spaces of the Baha’i spiritual imagination, and inflames us with the courage to create. 

Miller’s latest book is Sickness, Death, and Resurrection of Holden Caulfield, available on Amazon.