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.’
