Digital Bergerak on Wednesday (4 August) started the auction for Mochtar Sarman’s painting for donation. The opening bid was set at Rp10,000,000 and the auction was closed on 5 August at Rp250 million. The painting, featuring Scrooge McDuck or Paman Gober on a 160 x 100 cm canvas, was sold to Doni Salmanan.

Titled Dream Big, Work Hard, Make it Happen, the painting shows a black credit card as the background with an image of Paman Gober sitting on top of a mountain of gold coins and banknotes flying on his side - an ode to Paman Gober’s love of money.

“I actually don’t have any background in painting. My background is in product design,” said Mochtar in an interview with TFR. He studied a bachelor's degree in product design and a master's degree in international business. His first career is in advertising before moving to Walt Disney as product designer and director of retail and licensing later on. 

“I learned painting on my own back in 2013 to cope with stress. It started as a hobby and because I have too many canvases at home, my wife asked me to do something about it. I finally decided to join an exhibition in Manila at Comic Con. It wasn’t so bad, I sold my paintings. Thank God this hobby earns money.”

Mochtar specialises in IP business and currently serves as the CEO of Machali Sports International, an IP and merchandising company that has produced merchandise for football club Persija and Asian Games mascots.

Digital Bergerak is a charity initiative from 16 independent media, including The Finery Report, to help MSMEs cushion the impacts of the pandemic.

The donation hosted on KitaBisa will remain open until the end of the month.