Amateur painter gets return ticket to Peru
Amateur painter gets return ticket to Peru
JAKARTA (JP): At last the bidding was fast and furious. Professor W. P. Napitupulu from UNESCO Indonesia and Moyetaryanto, an advisor for Coca Cola, politely fought over the painting Life in the Village by amateur artist Ayu Arista Murti.
The starting bid was Rp 1.5 million (US$666.66). Not bad for a sixteen-year-old high school student from Surabaya who has not formally studied art but would like to be a graphic designer when she grows up.
The auctioneer's hammer went down on Moyetaryanto's final bid of Rp 5 million for the simplistic village scene in Gauguinesque color.
Tuesday night's auction was part of the fund-raising painting competition "Peru/Indonesia: Encounter of Two Millennial Cultures" organized by the Peruvian Embassy, The Women's International Club and UNESCO Indonesia.
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman applauded the competition, which focused on similarities between Peruvian and Indonesian culture.
"Hopefully, through small but strategic events such as this world culture will emerge and we will become one," he said.
A few dozen of Jakarta's social set were at The World Trade Center to support fund-raising efforts for the needy children of Indonesia. The artists, in their plain cotton outfits and sandals, were easy to spot.
Ayu's painting won first prize in the competition, which includes a round-trip ticket to Peru and Rp 2 million. Second place, Rp 500,000, went to Catur Bina Praseyto. Yudhis Citra Hendrianto took third place.
Ayu said she knew a little about Peruvian culture from high school classes and that was what inspired her painting. She was excited about her trip to Peru next, year which she will take with her father.
Who is her favorite artist? "Sting," she answers, still breathless with excitement over taking first place over 266 other entrants. No, which painter? "Oh, Van Gogh."
The entries cover a broad spectrum of style, medium and quality ranging from surrealist to cubist, crayons to oils with papier-mache and from downright awful to if-I-only-had-the-money brilliant.
All the paintings entered in the competition were by amateurs and will be on display in the lobby of the World Trade Center until Friday and are all for sale, which can be arranged on the spot. (mlt)