Vice President Ma'ruf Amin's Self-Portrait Painting Sold For IDR 1.5 Billion

JAKARTA - A painting depicting a self-portrait of Vice President Ma'ruf Amin by artist Firdaus Alamhudi sold for IDR 1.5 billion.

Ma'ruf Amin appreciates the artwork and hopes that Indonesian artists will continue to provide inspiration from national figures and Indonesia's natural wealth.

"I hope that exhibitions like this will be held regularly and that many works of art that inspire both Indonesia's natural wealth and national figures from time to time will continue," said Ma'ruf Amin while attending the opening of the Firdaus Alamhudi painting exhibition entitled "The Nuance of Independence" in Jakarta was reported by ANTARA, Monday, August 22.

In addition to Ma'ruf Amin's self-image, various works of art displayed at the "Nuansa Kemerdekaan" exhibition include self-portraits of President Joko Widodo, the 3rd President of the Republic of Indonesia BJ Habibie, the 4th President of the Republic of Indonesia Abdurrahman Wahid, the 5th President of the Republic of Indonesia. Megawati Soekarnoputri, DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, and West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil.

"Incidentally now it is associated with Independence Day, so we celebrate it with exhibitions. I hope that after the pandemic there will be many exhibitions. Now we can hold them everywhere," added Ma'ruf.

The vice president assessed that Firdaus Alamhudi is one of the Indonesian painters who is unique because some of his works use unique media, such as chicken feather waste.

"He is a pioneer in using chicken feathers and hopefully later it can be continued and this effort will give meaning and become a good deed for Mr. Firdaus and be passed on to the next generation," he said.

The winner of the auction for Ma'ruf Amin's 122x90 cm self-portrait painting in chicken feather mixed media is the couple Jery Borneo and Natasha Vinski. Jery and Natasha said they were happy to win the painting auction which was opened at a price of IDR 777 million.

"We are very happy today because we won the auction, because of course we have a lot of respect for Mr. Ma'ruf Amin and we are also happy that some of the money will be used to build mosques and Islamic boarding schools. So, that is also something important for us," Natasha said.

Part of the proceeds from the sale of the painting of Ma'ruf Amin's face wearing a white turban and black skullcap with a red and white background is planned to be used to help build the Al Jihad Salahuddin Al Ayyubi Mosque in North Jakarta and the Syech Nawawi Al Bantani Islamic Boarding School in Banten.

"So, of course, Mr. Firadus Alamhudi is a very famous painter in Indonesia; and he is also a pioneer of painters using feathers. So, he is very unique. From an international scale, there may not be or it is rare, but certainly, in Indonesia, it is the first," he added.

Natasha admits that she is a doctor, while her husband is an entrepreneur in the oil palm sector; and they both love art.

"We can be considered as collectors of paintings or arts, but we usually come from all over the world. We love unique things, especially if we participate in charity auctions. For Mr. Firdaus' painting, this is actually our first collection, but who knows there will be other else," he said.