The Indonesian art collector and patron Budi Tek has died. Born in Jakarta to Chinese parents, in 2006 he opened the Yuz Museum in his home city, having only become interested in art two years prior. He followed this with a much larger second private institution in Shanghai in 2014 to show his 1,500-strong collection, housed in a former aircraft hangar repurposed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto.
As well as solo exhibitions for the likes of Zhou Li, Random International and Sun Xun, the museum also hosted exhibitions by western artists including Donna Huanca, Alicja Kwade and KAWS. He also became known for his support of large-scale work, purchasing Huang Yongping’s metal and bamboo pavilion-like Snake Tower (2009), Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s kinetic Freedom (2009), and Ai Weiwei’s Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads (2011).
Tek’s influence – and money – spread beyond these venues however, not least in his patronage of Asia Art Archive, the Indonesian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and Zeng Fanzhi’s retrospective in Paris. Having been sick for sometime Tek had been actively planning his legacy, announcing a partnership between the foundation and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art that effectively sees the US museum co-own his collection, ensuring it remains intact after his death.
