'You cannot build a country without books'

'You cannot build a country without books'

Lila Fitri Aly, Contributor, Jakarta

Hailing from far away in the wine-producing region of Burgundy,
some 100 kilometers south of Paris, Didier Hamel was already
obsessed with stories and pictures of Sumatran tigers when he
visited the island in 1969 and stayed in Medan, North Sumatra,
for six months.

In the 1970s Hamel, who loves Indonesia, moved to Jakarta and
began to visit the islands in Indonesia on a Bugisnese vessel.

"Really fantastic," he said in his study at the Duta Fine Arts
Gallery, Kemang, South Jakarta.

Hamel -- an artist, a writer of fine art books and also the
owner of Duta Fine Arts Gallery -- has never been without
inspiration. Every minute a new idea will come to him. He is sure
this is the fruit of his great love of reading which is part of
the European culture.

In the 1950s, when there were not many places to go for
recreation in France and television was not popular enough,
French youngsters spent their free time reading. Unlike the
present generation, who usually shun reading in favor of the
great temptation that is television, they devoured one book after
another, improving their knowledge with each passing day.

"Building a country without books is just like building a
house without bricks," Hamel said.

A lover of books, he has an incredible collection both at home
and in the office. He said Japan translated a lot of books into
Japanese because books are a source of knowledge. Realizing the
importance of books as a source of knowledge, Singapore has made
English its lingua franca because most books are written in
English. Thanks to books, he said, these two countries had made
progress in leaps and bounds.

As a writer, Hamel lamented there were only a few book shops
in Indonesia. He himself has written quite a few books, among
others on painters Antonio Blanco, Nyoman Gunarsa, Kartini
Basuki, Emil Rizek (an Austrian painter) and Van der Sterren (a
Dutch-born painter domiciled in New Zealand).

As an artist, Hamel has never run out of ideas. He finds it
easy enough to realize his ideas. The only constraint is time,
particularly when one gets older.

"It's a pity, we cannot buy time in a shop," said Hamel, who
has a secretary to arrange his daily schedule.

Each night Hamel works from 11 p.m until 4 a.m., either
painting, writing or anything else. For him, painting and writing
are just like eating. Without them, he will go hungry and it is
late at night and in the small hours that he satisfies this
hunger.

Hamel wakes up at 2 p.m. and then goes to his gallery.

"I dedicate all my life to art," he said.

He began to have this sleeping pattern when he was still in
France and now he does not think he should change it. He said in
his school days, he longed to attend a night school because
during the day he would sleep in class.

In 1983 he opened Oet's Gallery at Falatehen, South Jakarta,
but after some time he closed it. Then in 1986, he opened the
Duta Fine Arts Gallery, one of the pioneering galleries in
Jakarta, along with his partner, Wiwoho Basuki, a businessman and
the husband of painter Kartini Basuki. Hamel had the knowledge
and Basuki, also an art buff, the money. Both shared a common
idea and a common vision. They formed a harmonious partnership in
establishing the Duta Fine Arts Gallery at a time when, unlike
today, the art world in Indonesia was still in a slumber and the
market limited.

At first some Caucasian expatriates bought some antique items
in Ciputat and Indonesians followed suit. When these expatriates
began to buy paintings, Indonesians would follow suit, too.
Finally, the art world in Indonesia flourished.

Hamel said his gallery was the first to introduce democracy.
Anybody can hold an exhibition there as long as their works pass
the selection. At some other places, he said, it would be
difficult to display your works if you did not personally know
the management. That's why the presence of Duta Fine Arts Gallery
was welcomed as a fresh wind by the artists.

Many collectors and painters have been catapulted to fame
through this gallery. In 1989-1990 a painting boom took place
with the result that quite a lot of galleries sprung up, an
indication of the flourishing development of painting in
Indonesia.

In Hamel's words, the country's art world has shown a very
interesting development in the past decade. The works by local
painters are now known in international circles. The strength of
local painting is its strong roots. When the Dutch colonized
Indonesia, they did not colonize the people intellectually. They
came here only on business. That's why local painters can remain
close to their traditional roots.

Indonesia's art has a strong self identity, especially in the
case of the new generation. It is a pity that the works of local
painters lack the touch of literature. If there are a lot of
books here and if the painters are avid readers, they can explore
their themes further and do more to express themselves. More
knowledge will allow them to be more open. He blames this lack of
reading on television, which he said could kill the imagination
and discourage reading.

Hamel believed that one must have a concept in life. The
trouble with Indonesians is they often had a lot of interests at
he same time but in the end nothing ever got completed.

Another thing that is unfavorable for Indonesians is they get
bored easily. If someone can focus himself on one point and does
not get bored easily, one can show greater professionalism.

Local painters, he said, also lack focus. They allow
themselves to be influenced by many art schools and will always
follow the market tendency. Actually, a painter must paint, paint
and paint again until he can make a good painting. He should not
just follow the market trends.

About his gallery, he said that he did not particularly seek
financial profit as intellectual pleasure was the priority.

Running a gallery, he maintained, is not running a shop. He
said he was running his gallery in search of intellectual
pleasure along with his partner, Basuki. When an intellectual job
is seriously done, profit will surely come in the end. He warned
against measuring profit with money.

Hamel and his partner try to introduce Indonesian paintings to
the international community. They seem to suggest that Indonesia
not only have batik and kris, but also paintings.

Their major project now is to set up Duta Fine Arts Museum, an
idea conceived 16-years ago. Building the museum, measuring about
1,800 square meters and located next to the gallery, began five
-years ago. It is scheduled to be officially opened in November
2002. It will house 300 paintings by local painters and foreign
artists inspired by Indonesia.