CAS Collections Fund Acquires Michael Landy and Shaqúelle Whyte at Frieze London 2025
Two significant works by British artists will join Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery, repositioning its contemporary collection
Two significant works by British artists will join Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery, repositioning its contemporary collection
Works by Michael Landy and Shaqúelle Whyte have been acquired at Frieze London through the CAS Collections Fund at Frieze 2025 for the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. In anticipation of the Walker’s 150th anniversary in 2027, the works selected by this year’s Collections Fund at Frieze Committee and the Walker’s curators draw from themes in the museum’s collection while signifying a refresh of its contemporary art display.
The works are Multi-Saint (2013), by Michael Landy (Thomas Dane Gallery), an interactive kinetic sculpture that the artist created after a National Gallery residency in 2010–2012. The work captures fragments of Christian iconography and represents St Catherine, St Lucy, St Peter Martyr, St Lawrence and St Michael. It speaks to the Walker’s collection of religious works from the 15th century onwards.
The second work is In an embroiled fashion (2025) by Shaqúelle Whyte (Pippy Houldsworth Gallery). Featuring two male figures wrestling, the work is a powerful interrogation of the human body through paint, which preserves a pervasive sense of mystery. In the foreground, a third, nude male walks towards the viewer, his head turned backwards, as if aware of something or someone out of view. Whyte work resonates with the Walker’s works by painters such as Edgar Degas and Claude Monet, while bringing a compelling contemporary version of figuration.
Charlotte Keenan McDonald, head of the Walker Art Gallery, said: ‘We are incredibly grateful to the Contemporary Art Society for selecting the Walker as the recipient of this year’s Frieze Collections Fund. We are delighted to bring works by Michael Landy and Shaqúelle Whyte into the collection. They will be at the centre of our new Post-War and Contemporary art galleries when they reopen next summer, ahead of our 150th anniversary in 2027.’
Caroline Douglas, director of the Contemporary Art Society said: ‘Once again, galleries have brought work of the highest calibre to Frieze London and we are proud to have been able to select two major works to add to the world-class collections at the Walker. Michael Landy and Shaqúelle White’s works will enter into dialogue with historic as well as contemporary works in the collections, and will, I am sure, be star attractions for visitors to the gallery.’
About the Artists
Michael Landy
Michael Landy CBE, RA (b.1963, London, UK) is known for his conceptually rooted work that often softly critiques or playfully challenges dominant systems, whether capitalism, consumer culture or religious iconography, as seen in the 2013 work Multi-Saint. He is best known for his work Break Down, 2001, in which he destroyed 7,227 of his belongings in a public exhibition held in an empty shop on Oxford Street. He later created the work Art Bin (2010), where he invited artists to throw away failed or rejected artworks into a giant transparent bin at the South London Gallery. Studying at Goldsmiths in the late 1980s, Landy came to prominence at the now historic ‘Freeze’ exhibition at London’s Docklands in 1988. His works are held in public institutions internationally, including the Tate Collection, London; the Arts Council, England; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Shaqúelle Whyte
Shaqúelle Whyte (b.2000, Wolverhampton, UK) is rising in prominence for his psychologically charged figurative paintings. His enigmatic works suggest surreal, otherworldly narratives which are nonetheless rooted in his own experiences, as well as representations of Black masculinity, mythological tales and the artist’s musical influences. Graduating from the Slade School of Fine Arts followed by the Royal College of Art, Whyte has since been the recipient of the Arts Council Collection, Frieze London 2024 Award. Whyte’s work can be found in the collections of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, The Arts Council, London, Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, NC, and The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent.
About the Contemporary Art Society
The Contemporary Art Society champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft in the UK. Since 1910 the charity has donated thousands of works by living artists to museums: from Pablo Picasso, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore in their day, through to the influential artists of our times, such as Kehinde Wiley and Sonia Boyce. Sitting at the heart of cultural life in the UK, the Contemporary Art Society brokers philanthropic support for the benefit of museums and their audiences across the entire country. Their work ensures that the story of art continues to be told now and for future generations.
About the CAS Collections Fund
Founded in 2012, the Contemporary Art Society’s Collections Fund supports the acquisition of significant contemporary works for Contemporary Art Society museum members across the UK. A key aim of the scheme is to draw together the knowledge, experience and expertise of private collectors with that of museum curators in a programme of research leading to an acquisition. Past acquisitions through the Collections Fund have included works by Simon Fujiwara, Ben Rivers, Hito Steyerl, John Akomfrah and Kader Attia, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Kehinde Wiley and Zadie Xa, Zanele Muholi, Sunil Gupta, Hetain Patel and Billie Zangewa, Ibrahim Mahama, Grada Kilomba, Goshka Macuga, Pamela Phatismo Sunstrum, Haegue Yang and Nour Jaouda.
About The Walker Art Gallery
The Walker Art Gallery stands among Europe's finest museums, showcasing an internationally significant collection spanning the centuries. Its Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque displays sit alongside masterpieces from British artists that include Lucian Freud, Barbara Hepworth, Lubaina Himid and David Hockney, complemented by celebrated pre-raphaelite and impressionist collections. Now in its 68th year, the John Moores Painting Prize returns to the gallery in 2025, continuing its legacy of championing contemporary painting.
Further Information
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Main image: Shaqúelle Whyte, In an embroiled fashion, 2025. Courtesy: Pippy Houldsworth Gallery
