CAS Collections Fund Acquires Haegue Yang and Nour Jaouda
The two works by women artists at Frieze London will join the Hepworth Wakefield collection, expanding its international scope
The two works by women artists at Frieze London will join the Hepworth Wakefield collection, expanding its international scope
The CAS Collections Fund has bought two works by women artists at Frieze London 2024 for the Hepworth Wakefield. It is the first time that Korean artist Haegue Yang (shown by Kukje) and Egyptian artist Nour Jaouda (shown by Union Pacific) will be represented in the Hepworth’s collection.
Yang’s work Sonic Gym Milky Coiffured Cosmic Compression (2019) is part of the artist’s series ‘Sonic Sculptures’ (2013–ongoing), many of which incorporate bells. When rotated manually, the Sonic Gym sculptures produce unique visual patterns and acoustics, generating a sensorial visual experience and transforming the gallery space.
Jaouda’s Dust that never settles (2024) is composed of dyed fabrics and pigment on canvas. In dark earthy hues, vibrant blues and ochre yellows, the work is a visual feast of colour and texture. Jaouda’s work is intricately layered and fragmented, abstract visual landscapes that evoke the meditative spaces of religious ritual.
Eleanor Clayton of the Hepworth Wakefield said: ‘We are so grateful to CAS for this incredible opportunity to purchase work for Wakefield’s collection at Frieze. We’re thrilled to be acquiring work by Haegue Yang and Nour Jaouda, artists whose work references contemporary politics – particularly questions of migration and belonging – through judicious choices of materials. These acquisitions mark a significant shift towards the collection’s international ambitions, while connecting to Hepworth’s legacy.’
About the Artists
Haegue Yang (Seoul, 1971, Korea) is based between Berlin and Seoul. Her wide-ranging multidisciplinary practice encompasses sculpture, installation, video and performance, to allude to the themes of migration, displacement and the intersection of the personal and political – conveyed through visual abstraction and sensory experiences accentuated through scent, sound, light and tactility. Her artistic vocabulary draws from a number of sources, referencing modern avant-garde movements in art history, to literature, postcolonial thought as well as East Asian customs and folklore. The artist’s solo show ‘Haegue Yang: Leap Year’ opens at the Hayward Gallery on 9 October, the artist’s first major survey in a UK institution.
Nour Jaouda (Cairo, 1997, Egypt) is based between Cairo and London. Her large-scale textile-based work stands at the threshold of painting and sculpture. Typically suspended as wall hangings and tapestries – or stitched onto scraps from bent steel to form installations – Jaouda’s work symbolically draws out the tensions between destruction and creation, rupture and repair, while speaking more broadly to the fraught legacies of colonial history and modern day geopolitics. The action and process of threading and rooting metaphorically speaks to a sense of displacement, uprooting or fabricating of the self.
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 and Pamela Phatismo Sunstrum.
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 Hepworth Wakefield
The Hepworth Wakefield cares for more than 5,000 artworks in the Wakefield Permanent Art Collection. The gallery builds on the pioneering reputation of the former Wakefield Art Gallery, established in 1934, which became one of the most forward-thinking galleries of its time, establishing a national reputation for its progressive collecting policy and ground-breaking exhibitions. Founded with gifts from local industrialists, Wakefield Art Gallery exhibited, and collected works by, some of the most significant and avant-garde British artists of the twentieth century, including Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, both born in the Wakefield district. Supporting contemporary artists and developing the collection for future generations is something that The Hepworth Wakefield continues to be committed to today.
Further Information
Frieze London and Frieze Masters, 9 – 13 October 2024, The Regent’s Park.
Tickets to the fairs are on sale – don’t miss out, buy yours now. Alternatively, become a member to enjoy premier access, exclusive guided tours and more.
To keep up to date on all the latest news from Frieze, sign up to the newsletter at frieze.com, and follow @friezeofficial on Instagram, X and Frieze Official on Facebook.
Main image: Nour Jaouda, The dust that never settles, 2024. Fabric dye and pigment on canvas, steel, 130 cm x 235 cm. Courtesy: the artist and Union Pacific
