Art Talk: Charmie Hamami

It was a long day in the studio, but it was exciting and it was fun. Charmie Hamami posed gracefully for portrait after portrait, each time reinterpreting an iconic works of art, such as Gustav Klimt’s ‘Frauenbildnis’, Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait ‘The Frame’, John Singer Sargent’s ‘Portrait of Madame X’,  Andy Warhol’s portrait of Elizabeth Taylor, Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur’s ‘Balinese Women Surrounded by Flower Blossoms’ and Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’.

“These paintings and artists represent some of the strongest icons in the art world, and they are artists and artworks that I enjoy immensely,” says Christie’s Vice President and Chief Representative for Indonesia. “Christie’s is celebrating a double anniversary this year – 30 years in Asia and its 250th anniversary, so I thought this would be a fun and interesting way to market it. The concept was what attracted me to do it in the first place and it appealed to my passion in art. It’s a really enjoyable and fun experience to be working with Prestige once again.”

During her exclusive interview, Charmie makes it clear that she is upbeat about the prospects for Indonesia’s art market. “There is great potential in the Indonesian contemporary art scene,” she declares. “Artists here have been enjoying more of the spotlight in recent years as part of a wider appeciation among collectors of Southeast Asian art. This is in part driven by Asian collectors beginning to diversify their tastes and discovering new styles and techniques deployed by Indonesian artists. The trend we are seeing is that Asian collectors have been buying across categories in recent years and collecting art not just from within their home countries. 

“In terms of price, Indonesian artists have yet to reach the level of their peers in China, as they have not been under the spotlight for as long. However, having said this, we see very encouraging signs for artists here and we have high hopes for their popularity to go from strength to strength.”

Charmie sees promoting Indonesian and Southeast Asian art to collectors around the world as an important part of her role at the powerful global art business and auction house. “My day-to-day job is to undertake business development responsibilities and to manage Christie’s relationships with top clients,” she says. “I am also responsible for developing and overseeing consignments and buying activities in one of the fastest-growing markets in Asia. I work very closely with the specialist departments and senior management in Asia to identify and execute business initiatives. I am also very determined to develop Christie’s exposure and brand awareness in this market.”

Charmie appreciates Impressionist and modern artists, such as Degas, Van Gogh and Matisse, as well as Southeast Asian old masters like Affandi, Lee Man Fong, Le Pho and Anita Magsaysay. Her love of art goes back, she says, to her school days in the UK. While at university in England, she studied the history of art at university as part of her interior architecture course. “We students were encouraged to visit museums, galleries, art exhibitions and artist’s studios,” she recalls. “That brings back memories of the day I visited (Salvador) Dali’s studio in Cadaques (in the province of Girona in Catalonia, Spain) the year he passed away. It was an amazing and overwhelming experience. My lecturer, Sand Hasel, was my mentor. She also happened to be (renowned architect and designer) Zaha Hadid’s classmate. Sand got me interested in art and design.”

In many ways, Charmie’s position at Christie’s – which was founded in 1766 and holds more than 450 auctions annually in over 80 categories in salesrooms in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zurich, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Mumbai – is a dream come true. “I had always wanted to work for Christie’s since l was a student,” she says. “I remember walking past the Christie’s London headquarters (at 8 King Street, St. James’s) and thinking to myself that l would one day work there. So when there was an opening in Jakarta, I applied – and was flabbergasted when l was accepted.”

Charmie has followed in the footsteps of Deborah Iskandar, who opened Christie’s office here in the 1990s, and of Amalia Wirjono as the company’s Chief Representative in Indonesia. She has built on her predecessors’ achievements over the past four years. “I am more of the pace-setting kind of manager, whereby I set certain high standards and expect my staff to follow suit with professionalism and hard work,” Charmie says of her leadership style. “I am also a go-getter, and l thrive on challenges. Indonesia has a unique regulatory environment that needs special consideration. Also, the operations in Indonesia are relatively smaller than in other offices. This presents its own unique set of challenges.

“At Christie’s, we believe in the power of art in society and we endeavour to use our position in the art market as a positive force. To that end, Christie’s strives to manage its people and practices responsibly, in order to leave a positive, enduring impact on our communities – particularly in helping to preserve and promote the world’s collective cultural heritage. For nearly 250 years, we have taken responsibility for our activities, from convening individuals and organisations within the art market to transfer great works of art from one caretaker to the next, to philanthropy and volunteerism, to following responsible workplace practices.

“Art is central to our CSR program and it constitutes the prism through which we consider our activities vis-à-vis the workplace, community, and environment. We have named our CSR platform “Art + Soul”, and we focus on four main practice areas: cultural stewardship, philanthropy, employee engagement and sustainability.”

One of the highlights of her career in Christie’s came two years ago when she played a leading role in the first sale at a Christie’s auction in the United States of an Indonesian post-war and contemporary artwork: I Nyoman Masriadi’s painting “Bersiap” (Getting Ready). The work was sold during the afternoon session at Rockefeller Plaza in New York on May 14, 2014 for a cool US$389,000, exceeding by far its estimated price of $180,000 to $250,000. It was a major breakthrough for Indonesia’s art scene.

Why should art collectors here do business with Christie’s? “We have numerous categories that cater to an assortment of collector tastes, and which offer local and international collectors a breadth and depth only we can provide,” says Charmie. “In Asia, our major categories are Asian Contemporary Art, Chinese Paintings, Jewellery, Watches, Asian Works of Art and Wine.” Christie’s Asian auctions are held in Hong Kong, but Charmie’s business trips often take her much further afield. “I regularly attend auctions, exhibitions and art fairs around the world to keep my knowledge current, and I enjoy discovering new talents and to witness new trends and movements,” she says. 

A major Christie’s auction, “First Open Hong Kong”, took place on Good Friday, March 25. It showcased an international platform of various styles and movements of art, as well as featuring upcoming talents across Asia. “Following this, the next major auctions will take place at the end of May as part of Christie’s spring auctions series in Hong Kong,” says Charmie. “As this year is Christie’s 30th anniversary in Asia, the spring auction week will feature a special sale of 30 exceptional pieces from all of our sales categories. We saw strong participation from Southeast Asian buyers in our Hong Kong autumn auctions last year, and we registered bidders from 19 countries globally.”

What is Charmie’s advice to collectors heading for the autumn auctions? “Always follow your passion,” she declares. “At Christie’s, we do not advocate collecting purely for monetary returns. We try to guide clients to make the most informed purchases possible, which means collectors should try to be as knowledgeable as they can in their chosen areas of interest. We also advocate that collectors focus on buying the highest quality items they can afford in their price range, as quality endures the test of time.”

Charmie hopes that Indonesian artists will involve themselves more in art events overseas. “As I said before, I believe there is a lot of potential in the art scene here,” she says. “I hope to see more Indonesian artists take part in group and solo exhibitions outside of Indonesia, l would like to see them become part of important biennales and institutional projects as well. Indonesia is still a relatively new market compared to the more established Western and greater Asian markets but there’s room  for growth. 

“Indonesia is a truly exciting market, with unique collecting tastes and trends. Collectors here are maturing at a very fast pace and have a strong appetite to discover new talents and trends. The challenge is to help collectors digest and understand all the changes in the art landscape, to help them make the most informed and knowledgeable choices when it comes to purchases.”

A younger crowd here have started to appreciate art in the last few years. How does Charmie feel about this trend? “We are very encouraged by it,” she replies. “Drawing parallels with Chinese collectors, we see collectors here very quickly maturing in terms of their tastes and knowledge. They are extending and exploring new areas of passion. As the country continues to develop quickly, so we expect the local art ecology to develop too, which is conducive to encouraging more participants to learn and discover art.” 

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Photography: Robby Agus

Fashion Direction: Peter Zewet

Styling: Koko Namara

Makeup: Yuan Patricia

Hair: Inaro Ahmad

Digital Imaging: Elvan Nugraha & Mahesa Putra Loegiman

Painting (background Frida Kahlo): Frisca Aprilia