Gay rights in Asia has a patchy record – same-sex marriage in Taiwan became legal in 2019, but gay sex is still criminalised in many countries and punishable by death in Brunei. Patrick Sun hopes to make a difference through art. With his self-funded Sunpride Foundation, the property developer and art collector has been a formidable driving force behind LGBTQ activism in Asia. Based in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Bangkok, he has bankrolled a series of high-profile queer-focused exhibitions, Spectrosynthesis – Asian LGBTQ Issues and Art Now at the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei in 2017, and its second iteration, Spectrosynthesis – Exposure of Tolerance: LGBTQ in Southeast Asia, at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, in 2019. The expository titles reflect his matter-of-fact ethos: to him, art is a vehicle to raise public awareness of queer communities and to engender respect for them. Is this too straightforwardly instrumentalising art for activism? Perhaps. But in a polarised world, his support for communities that are still marginalised in many places is a breath of fresh air.

The ArtReview Power 100 is presented by BMW Group Culture