Budi Tek
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Budiardjo 'Budi' Tek (27 October 1957 – 18 March 2022[1]) was a Chinese-Indonesian entrepreneur, philanthropist and art collector, and the founder of the Yuz Foundation.[2] Following a successful business career, Tek started collecting art works in 2004, amassing a collection of over 1,500 pieces, including a number of difficult to display 'mega art' works, he announced he would turn the collection into a non-profit public institution in 2017 following a 2015 diagnosis[3] of pancreatic cancer.[3] In 2018 he announced that he would partner with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to form a foundation that would house most of his collection of Chinese contemporary art.[4]
Tek was born in Jakarta and grew up in Singapore. He became a successful entrepreneur and was president/director of Indonesia-based PT Sierad Produce Tbk, with interests in poultry production through to restaurant management.[5] He took the company to IPO in 1996,[6] but was later forced to restructure operations in response to Indonesia's debt crisis.[7]
Yuz collection
In 2004, Tek began collecting artworks, amassing a collection of over 1,500 pieces, the Yuz Collection.[8] Invited by London's Tate to sit on its Asia Pacific Acquisitions Committee to raise awareness of Asia Pacific arts, Tek expanded the scope of his interests beyond Asian art to include Western art, acquiring works by artists such as Maurizio Cattelan, Fred Sandback, Anselm Kiefer, and Adel Abdessemed to his collection.[9]
He is known for having collected large and difficult to display 'mega art' works, including a tigerskin made of 600,000 cigarettes, a high pressure fire hose which whips around in a purpose-built room,[10] and Random International's Rain Room, a computer-controlled indoor rain shower which remains dry around visitors walking through the deluge.[11]
In 2015 he announced plans to house the Yuz Collection in Bali, including a super-sized 150-metre square version of Rain Room, but the plan was shelved due to his ill health.[12]