Art for artists' sake

The wealthy Belgian benefactor Guys Ullens has been supporting contemporary Chinese artists since the 1980s. Mark Graham reports.

During regular visits to Beijing, billionaire businessman Guy Ullens became intrigued by contemporary Chinese art, a fascination that developed into founding the personally funded Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. The Belgian benefactor knows many Chinese big-name artists, having struck up friendships and bought their work on business trips to the capital city during the 1980s - long before the world woke up to the wealth of new talent emerging in China.

"I spent my weekends with art people," he recalls. "It just happened by sheer accident that the place to relax was the art community; they were not overloaded by work and had plenty of free time and I started to spend time with them.