Midas-touch artist Sapto dies at 78

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Flamboyant, multitalented artist and art dealer Sapto Hoedojo, who was recognizable anywhere with his gray, silky hair, died at his home here on Wednesday morning. He was 78.

He is survived by a wife, an ex-wife, nine children and 17 grandchildren.

Sapto died at about 5 a.m. with some of his children by his sick bed. His wife, Mulyani Sapto Hoedojo, or Yani as she is familiarly known, was in Jakarta on business and arrived back in Yogyakarta at about 10 a.m.

Meanwhile, his ex-wife, artist Kartika Affandi, the daughter of the late painting maestro, Affandi, was in Australia. Kartika, with whom Sapto had eight children, maintained good relations with Sapto's new family.

"She is the mother of my children and I respect her very highly," Sapto once said about Kartika.

"The last time I was with him was on Monday (Sept. 1) before I left for Jakarta. I had no inkling at all about what would happen. He did no message for me because he had been unable to communicate for quite some time," Yani said.

Sapto had been unable to speak since he suffered a stroke in the early 1995. The stroke also left him paralyzed. He communicated by way of sign language. But a year ago, he totally lost all ability to communicate. Since then he has been confined to bed.

"I think going to his eternal rest is the best thing for him after all this illness," said Yani, adding that none of Sapto's monumental artworks would be sold, but would rather be housed in the family museum.

He was buried on Wednesday afternoon in the Giri Sapto Cemetery, a complex that he designed in the 1980s for artists. The cemetery is located on Bukit Gajah hill, near the royal cemetery of the Mataram kingdom in Imogiri, some 15 kilometers southeast of here.

Born on Feb. 6, 1925, in the Central Java town of Surakarta, Sapto (a Javanese word meaning "seven"), was the seventh of 21 children of a high-born physician, KRT Hendronoto.

As a boy, Sapto remembered himself as being naughty and fond of fighting over girls. So aggressive was he that he would hit any stranger unfortunate enough to bump into him in the street.

As a youth, Sapto lived a colorful life, especially after he abandoned his aristocratic family and moved to Singapore "to pursue his own destiny", as he would later recall.

It was in Singapore that he became homeless and did humble jobs, such as cleaning toilets just to survive. But it was in Singapore also that he found himself to be a talented artist, and commenced his career as a businessman.

His works were internationally renowned, not only in the art field but also in the social science and humanities fields. In 1987, he represented Indonesia at the Dag Hammarskjold international art institute. He was also appointed as an artistic consultant to the Association International des Correspondants Diplomatiques and Academie Diplomatique De La Paix and was accepted as an academician of merit the same year.

In 1988, he won the Upakarti Award from the Indonesian government for his role in developing art in this country. He was also well known in Kasongan, a handicraft center near Yogyakarta. He was well-respected for passing on his know-how and marketing savvy to local artisans and craftsmen. His contribution helped Kasongan become what it is today.

Sapto married Kartika Affandi in 1952 but they divorced in 1970. They had four daughters and four sons, and 10 grandchildren when their marriage broke up.

In 1972, Sapto met the 17-year old Mulyani, who is from Purwokerto, Central Java, and whom he later married. Yani gave him a son, Sikka Sekar Langit, who becomes an illusionist.

His second marriage was a hot topic among his friends, especially because of the large age difference. Many predicted the marriage would not last, but he proved them wrong.

In fact, it was with Yani that Sapto successfully developed his art business, which covered interior design, batik design and fashion accessories. Neither did Sapto mind if people called him an art dealer rather than an artist.

In his hands, everything just seemed to turn into a beautiful work of art. A piece of worthless gravel that he picked up from the street, for example, could become a beautiful souvenir. A piece of old batik cloth that he bought from a street vendor in Yogyakarta's Beringharjo traditional market could turn into a beautiful artwork worth hundreds of U.S. dollars.

That explained why guests streamed to his batik gallery on Jl. Laksda Adisucipto, just outside Yogyakarta's airport. His fans ranged from Western backpackers to Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and Brunei Darrusalam's Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah. He once also designed a batik cloth for then U.S. president Ronald Reagan.

Sapto was known among his friends as a generous person. He was the one who came up with an idea of establishing a cooperative for artists to help them prosper.

He was appointed a member of the Advisory Board of the Kopseni (Artists Cooperative) he co-established in 1985 together with the late writer Umar Kayam and Mrs. Bustanil Arifin, wife of a former State Logistics Agency chief.

Some of his ideas stirred controversy -- one of these being the construction of the artists cemetery.

"If national heroes have their cemeteries then what is wrong with artists having their own one," he argued.