'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.