The Charles Asprey Gift

 

At the core of the Pier Arts Centre Collection sits Margaret Gardiner’s gift of 67 works – the heartbeat or ‘family of objects’ (Patrick Heron, 1978) – around which everything else happens. Each object individually and collectively reminds us of the profound value and magic of friendship; and viewing these works alongside subsequent modern and contemporary additions, is testament to how Margaret’s gift has informed and inspired the growth of the Collection in rich, unexpected, and dynamic ways. 

 ‘An act of love, received with grace, is always a gift of energy. It reverberates; and its resonances have unexpected, unpredictable outcomes as they sound down through time.’

(Mel Gooding, from the essay, Margaret’s Gift, An Unfolding Gift, The Pier Arts Centre Collection, 2010)

Tenant of Culture Sample Sale (Series) 2019 recycled shoes and socks, laces, plaster, tiles and grout © Hendrickje Schimmel
Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from Charles Asprey and allocated to the Pier Arts Centre, 2026

 The Charles Asprey Gift is a group of objects which reflects the same energy as Margaret’s original gift. Composed of over 50 works of recent contemporary British and international art, the Gift offers fresh ground to engage with the core works and their modern and contemporary additions, as well as the wider international arts community. Works included in the Charles Asprey Gift have been acquired through the Cultural Gifts Scheme, administered by Arts Council England. The objects – painting, sculpture, print, photography, installation, and film – provide radical starting points and make the Collection the most intensely contemporary it has ever been, with the power to inform and shape future collecting, and establish further opportunities for loans and collaboration with institutions and artists.

There are compelling juxtapositions and readings to be made in relation to the core Collection, and the exhibition Through Their Eyes (2 May – 7 November) offers the first opportunity for new, intriguing narratives to form. By reappropriating and playing with function and themes of modernism, the objects individually and collectively underscore a material affinity – one that allows for reflection, questioning, and the freedom to be curious and see the world through the artist’s lens.

 ‘Supporting artists through their careers is an essential duty of the Arts Patron; this includes supporting the very best curators and venues, be they in London or on an archipelago in the North Atlantic.’  

(Charles Asprey)  

Roger Hiorns Untitled 2008 aluminium
Courtesy the Artist and Corvi-Mora, London.
Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from Charles Asprey and allocated to the Pier Arts Centre, 2026

 

Wolfgang Tillmans William of Orange, 2007
copyright the artist, courtesy Maureen Paley, London, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin, and and David Zwirner, New York.
Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from Charles Asprey and allocated to the Pier Arts Centre, 2026

 Charles Asprey established his career in the 1990s working for galleries and institutions, including the Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, where he connected with many influential artists and curators. With a firm belief that we must follow our own path, Asprey has made significant contributions to contemporary art through philanthropy, publishing and initiatives that seek to nurture and support emerging talents. Purchasing work he admired, Asprey has continued to develop and cultivate friendships with artists, curators, and galleries, whilst building his own collection that lives alongside him in his London home. After a succession of individual gifts to the Pier Arts Centre, and providing support for the development of Linkshouse - Orkney Arts Residency, Asprey decided the time felt right to make a sizeable gift to the Centre – one that would echo the spirit of Margaret Gardiner’s founding gift, and provide a new group of contemporary voices in honour of this legacy to a collection outside of London.

 ‘Gen Z are keenly aware that there is something beautiful in seeking out the unusual, the analogue; and we have to encourage people to make the journey and it's therefore important to give them something exceptional to see when they arrive.’
(Charles Asprey)

 Asprey remarks there is something beautiful in seeking out the unusual, and indeed, just as there is a need to do this in life, there is a need for artists to make work about exactly that. The artists represented in the Charles Asprey Gift are asking, how do we make sense of all the stuff? Asprey has brought together artists who are reconsidering histories, exposing structures, dissecting ideas of power and desire, and dismantling notions of authorship, all in their own unique ways. The works create an open, playful dialogue into abstraction, gesture, perception, materiality, process, and a world beyond reality. This is art as questioning – and the artists don’t always want there to be easy answers. The works vary in scale, from the large, and slightly domineering, through to the more human-sized, and small, beautiful constructions that could be held in the palm of a hand. In a world that feels increasingly fractured and overwhelming, the Charles Asprey Gift is a reminder of the resounding power of collaboration, friendship, and creativity.

 Full list of artists:

Anna Barribal (UK)

Atelier EB (UK/BEL)

Franco Bellucci (IT)

Pierre Bismuth (FR)

Marc Camille Chaimowicz (FR)

Alan Charlton (UK)

Nicolas Deshayes (FR)

Michael Dean (UK)

Ian Hamilton Finlay (UK)

Christian Flamm (DE)

Jessie Flood-Paddock (UK)

Peter Gallo (USA)

Julian Göethe (DE)

Thilo Heinzmann (DE)

Roger Hiorns (UK)

Christian Jankowski (DE)

Nora Kapfer (UK)

Kitty Kraus (DE)

Michael Landy (UK)

Alexandra Leykauf (DE)

Lucy McKenzie (UK)

Jonathan Monk (UK)

Matt Mullican (USA)

Ron Nagle (USA)

Peter Peri (UK)

Manfred Pernice (DE)

Martin Puryear (USA)

Carlos Reyes (USA)

Catherine Story (UK)

Tenant of Culture (Hendricke Schimmel, NL)

Wolfgang Tillmans (DE)


Works included in the Charles Asprey Gift have been acquired through the Cultural Gifts Scheme, administered by Arts Council England

 

Peter Gallo Untitled 2008-11 oil on ping pong paddle © the artist
Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from Charles Asprey and allocated to the Pier Arts Centre, 2026

 

Charles Asprey – Biography

Publisher, Arts Patron and collector Charles Asprey was born in London in 1971. His career in the art world began in the early 1990s, working for prominent institutions in the United States that connected him with many influential artists and curators. He worked for the Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York, before interning for the director Richard Francis at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Asprey was part of a thriving curatorial scene and, during this time, he made regular visits to Berlin, forging meaningful relationships with emerging artists and galleries in those remarkable years following the collapse of the USSR and the reunification of Germany.

 In 1995, Asprey co-founded Ridinghouse Editions with Thomas Dane and Karsten Schubert, a publishing house that produced limited edition works and artist books such as Michael Landy’s Scrapheap Services (1995). Later, in 2009, he co-founded the PICPUS PRESS with art historian and curator Simon Grant (curator of the Guggenheim exhibition at this year’s Venice Biennale) and together they produce and edit an influential ‘pocket-sized’ quarterly arts pamphlet which is distributed free, and commissions original arts writing and artwork with each edition. Asprey and Grant did not want to create another typical arts magazine; the point was, and still is, to publish the stories that lie “in-between” the main events. Each issue is a sheet of A2 folded down into A6, inspired by artists such as Ian Hamilton Finlay, who Asprey acknowledges, “understood the joy of a folded piece of paper, and relished the message it could carry.” 

In 2016 Asprey commissioned, financed and collaborated on a development project in partnership with Cabinet gallery. The project saw the building that houses Cabinet gallery reimagined and converted into an award-winning structure designed by Trevor Horne Architects which won a RIBA Architecture Prize. Asprey and Cabinet used this as an opportunity to commission artists including Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Lucy McKenzie and John Knight, resulting in structural contributions that give the building an inherently unique stamp. In an interview for Frieze .com, Asprey comments, “Lucy’s interests in the Applied Arts resulted in her contribution of three enamel-painted, trompe l’oeil ceramic balconies; Marc Camille has long worked with master-craftsmen in wood, so his large oak windows for Vauxhall are an extension of his existing practice, you could say.”

Asprey’s commitment to artists and emerging talents is far reaching. In 2005 he founded ArtSchool Palestine, a non-profit organisation centred on supporting contemporary arts education and development within The Palestinian Territories. With a mission to nurture creativity, provide access to facilities, and increase exposure and opportunities for Palestinian artists, this initiative highlights Asprey’s dedication to art education and international communities. Similarly, in the UK, Asprey established the Randolph Cliff residency programme with curator, publisher and cultural historian Dr Clementine Deliss. Based in the heart of Edinburgh, the programme supported artists such as Tom Burr, Manfred Pernice, Mark Wallinger, Anna Barriball and MC Chaimowicz.

In 2006, Asprey and Kay Pallister curated the exhibition “As If By Magic” at the Peace Centre in Bethlehem. The exhibition made it possible for internationally renowned artists to exhibit work in a besieged area of the West Bank by inviting each participant to devise an artwork that could be realised on site. Participating artists included Damien Hirst, Douglas Gordon, Martin Creed, Wolfgang Tillmans, Isa Genzken, Michael Fullerton, Jim Lambie, Michael Craig-Martin, Gary Rough, Nathan Coley, Simon Periton and Andrea Slominski.

“Two Horizons: works from the collections of Charles Asprey and Alexander Schroeder” was presented at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2009. This collaboration created a distinct platform for exploring recent developments in contemporary art, presenting works by some of the most interesting artists working today.

Asprey has also held leading roles within art foundations, including the position of former trustee of the Michael Clark Company, and Chair of the Grants Committee at the Henry Moore Foundation, where he influenced funding decisions for sculpture and related projects that promote artistic innovation. He currently holds the role of Trustee of the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA, London) and continues to shape London’s contemporary art scene through acts of philanthropy, and his dedicated work in publishing and exhibition-making. These contributions have cemented his role as a leading supporter of emerging artists, leaving a lasting impact on independent publishing and art philanthropy in the UK and beyond.

Credit ‘Conversations with Collectors: Charles Asprey’, IN FRIEZE 18 Oct 16, interview by Sean Burns