Sold Only Rp. 500 Thousand On Jalan Braga, In The Hands Of Ridwan Kamil Solihin's Calligraphy Painting Runs Rp. 4.2 Million, How Come?

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil handed over money from the sale of a painting belonging to a painting seller on Jalan Braga, Bandung City (ANTARA)

JABAR - West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil handed over money from the sale of a painting belonging to a painting seller on Jalan Braga, Bandung City. This painting was auctioned by Ridwan Kamil through Opensea's NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens).

Ridwan Kamil uses his Opensea account to sell calligraphy paintings belonging to Solihin which sell for 0.09 ETH or the equivalent of Rp. 4.2 million. Previously, these paintings were usually sold on Jalan Braga, Bandung City, directly for Rp. 500 thousand to Rp. 1 million.

"According to the promise that the experiment selling paintings at NFT turned out to be successful, which usually sells for Rp. 500 thousand to Rp. 1 million, now it sells for Rp. 4.2 million," said Ridwan Kamil in his official statement quoted by Antara, Wednesday, January 26.

A few days earlier, Kang Emil, as he is known, came to Solihin's painting booth to offer to sell his paintings on NFT. Kang Emil said that selling goods through digital, especially NFT, is a new method that has proven successful. If this method is used by many painting sellers, he believes that the welfare of artists will increase.

"This is a new way to improve the welfare of artists or art performers, that the way to sell through the NFT digital platform is very promising," he said.

Kang Emil hopes that other artists can follow the way he sells. "Hopefully this story in Braga will be an inspiration, please tell them to follow this," he said.

His party will also formulate steps to help create an Opensea account with related parties for traders which is quite difficult to do alone.

Solihin (52) the owner of the painting admitted that he did not expect his painting to sell for more than four times the normal price.

"Usually I sell paintings in the range of Rp. 1 million, the minimum is Rp. 500 thousand. It is extraordinary that it has multiplied several times, this was unexpected. At that time, the Governor came to offer something like this," he said.

According to Solihin, there are already painting traders in Braga who are interested in selling their paintings at NFT, although only a few traders. The reason is that most of them still don't understand the technical aspects of NFT.

"Responses from painters are there, but there are still few interested parties because maybe they don't understand about NFT. But I will continue to communicate to them," said Solihin.