MODERN ART TALKING WITH BUDI TEK

Indonesian-Chinese billionaire Budi Tek is blazing a thrilling three-pronged assault on the collective consciousness of the contemporary art world; first, with the amassing of an astounding collection of works; second,...

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It might be cheeky to draw comparisons but something about Budi Tek’s new Yuz Museum  inadvertently makes me examine it in contrast to that of another art collection but, with apologies to Laurens van der Post, in a distinctly far-off place. Long in the top-tier of my ‘must-visit’ list, those who love art would be well familiar with Houston’s The Menil Collection. A veritable treasure trove, it is regarded as one of the greatest private museums in North America and with good reason.

What is interesting to note is that this marvellous assemblage of art might never have happened without the onslaught of WWII. Its founders, the late Dominique and John de Menil, decided to relocate their family to Houston from their native France once war broke out. Determined to fit in and make a difference, the couple commissioned Renzo Piano to create a worthy home for their eclectic but exquisite artworks and, in 1987, gifted The Menil Collection to their adopted city.

To the Menils, art was always classified as a ‘necessity’, treated with the same degree of importance as air itself. Their vision of the artistic experience was that it had to be intimate, personal, while the spaces in which the art were showcased should be places where one could ‘lose your head’. It was in this frame of mind that I found myself, one sunny afternoon, at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai.

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With more than 30 installations, some massive in size, on display at any one time, it would seem to the visitor that the Yuz Museum is a place, not just to lose your head, but also yourself. The space itself is sprawling – spanning 9,000 sq m – with the artworks displayed in former aircraft hangers that have been masterfully converted by Sou Fujimoto.

From Wang Guangyi’s Visa Pug and a dust cart salvaged from a Beijing hutong in 1995, to a woodblock print by Fang Lijun, as well as Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s morbidly-realistic Angel and Huang Yong Ping’s monumental Tower Snake, a coiled, temple-like construction that traces the form of a serpentine spine, fashioned out of alumimium, bamboo and steel, it is easy to lose yourself in the Yuz – which is precisely what its founder, Budi Tek, had in mind when he conceived it.

“Each piece in my collection has its own story and attachment for me. I consider them all treasures, with each piece unique, with its own character,” says Tek, when we met in Shanghai. Dressed casually in a white polo tee by Boss, slacks and black sneakers, the agricultural billionaire has been quietly but firmly making his mark on the international art circuit. Having begun collecting art as recently as 12 years ago, the soft-spoken Tek has propelled himself into the forefront of the art world’s collective consciousness. He is regularly featured among the top art collectors of the world and is, without doubt, one of its most active and powerful personalities. The opening of the Yuz Museum last year cemented that status.

A quick tour of what’s on display at the Yuz shows a hall of fame of contemporary artists, a fact to which Tek nods in agreement. “All the artists here are known names in their own right. When you see their works, you immediately know them as their signature pieces.”

Upon arrival at the museum, guests are immediately greeted by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s live olive tree sculpture. Inside, Zhang Huan’s monolithic copper masterpiece, Buddha Hand, stands to dwarf the onlooker, while Xu Bing’s Tobacco Project, made out of a small fortune in cigarettes and sprawled out in the shape of a tiger skin rug, examines human issues and weaknesses through its relationship with tobacco as well as permeate the air with its rich, sweet scent.

As impressive as the museum may be, it is, undoubtedly, the collection that steals the show. Even prior to its opening last year, the Yuz has been making the top of the list for museums to visit. “We got rated even before we opened,” says Tek with a grin.

Already, the luminaries of the art world have come to pay the Yuz their respects, including Jérôme Neutres, advisor and grand curator of Paris’ Grand Palais, as well as Francois Pinault, head of the Kering conglomerate and auction house Christie’s. “Jérôme had come and said, ‘Wow, Budi…’ I was so happy,” says Tek. “I was also very glad Francois, who didn’t make it for the opening, could visit shortly after. He is a good friend and we had dinner inside the museum afterwards.”

“The attention worldwide has been huge,” he continues. “I am pleased to say the Yuz Museum’s opening was the talk of the town on the international scene but, locally, it could be better. We need to resonate with the people. There have been more groups coming in but, so far, the Yuz still attracts international visitors.”

Foremost on Tek’s agenda would be the continuous, organic growth of the museum. “We need to work on its impact. To do so, we need better and better shows.” For a country that opens hundreds of new museums each year, it is safe to say the Yuz was its most talked-about in 2014. It will also be interesting to see how the Yuz, together with other notable institutions like the Power Station of Art and the Long Museum, founded by tycoon Liu Yiqian and his wife Wang Wei – one of China’s most prominent art-collecting couples – continue their ascent in what surely must be a gilded age of artistic and cultural institutions in the Middle Kingdom.

Certainly, the government of Shanghai has been supportive of Tek. With world-class spaces like the Yuz opening, it also signals to the world that the city is now shoulder-to-shoulder with Beijing as the de facto art capital of China. “The Yuz Museum is made possible only through the government’s support,” Tek stresses. “I couldn’t have been able to do it otherwise. Moreover, land is incredibly expensive here.”

On his choice of Shanghai to set up the Yuz, in a newly-developed area of the city known as the Xuhui Riverside, he notes: “I did consider Beijing. But I couldn’t find the space I wanted – the ones I saw were either too small or already crammed with art studios. I didn’t want to be one of many… I don’t believe you can express yourself well in an environment like that. It helped that my wife is Shanghainese, so we decided to look here instead,” he adds, happily.

Dividing his time between Shanghai and Jakarta, as well as Jogjakarta, which Tek terms “a real art city”, the down-to-earth tycoon cites a Fred Sandback piece, which he saw at Art Basel in Switzerland, as the artwork that changed his life. “I collected many things before contemporary art,” he says. “From Indonesian woodcraft to Balinese paintings and decorations, I’ve been buying those things for a long time. Eventually, I liked it (art) enough to want to learn more. My love of art evolved very naturally.” Having drawn prolifically as a child, Tek says he could have been an artist but insists collecting art is so much more fulfilling. “As an artist, you only love your own work. With collecting, you can appreciate all other creations, which is much more fun, don’t you think?”

Although considered a late-bloomer in the collectors’ circuit, Tek more than makes up for it with his ambition. “For the past 20 years, I didn’t operate any business in China,” he shares. “For me, that time was a non-commercial one … (it was) all about family. But I found I still needed to keep busy, so collecting art became part of that process and, over time, art filled that gap. Art also opened many doors for me to meet the most interesting people and enriched my life greatly. I’m in the agricultural business but, through art, I made friends everywhere. It opened up a whole new world for me. Truly, art transcends all boundaries.”

Aside from building the Yuz Museum and, in the process, helping Shanghai establish its own cultural heartland, much like New York City’s Museum Mile, Tek is also planning an art park in Bali in the next three to five years. “All this is very important for Asia,” he says. “Anyway, as recently as five years ago, I would never have dreamt of inaugurating my own museum. It just happened. Maybe it’s my destiny, who knows? But all I can say is that art really changes your life. Especially once you start collecting, it impacts and influences you.

“What I intend to continue doing is to surprise and amaze people with art. I want to always achieve that ‘wow’ factor and to elicit reactions. After all, that is what art is all about – it is a bridge between the material and the spiritual, with great philosophical impact. One doesn’t just believe in art – one must question and challenge it! I did and it has changed me forever.”

The Menil family might have originally envisioned an art museum to be a place in which to lose one’s head. But for Budi Tek and his Yuz Museum, it would seem it’s equally a place to lose one’s heart.

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