Apollo's wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art and museum stories. Got a story for Rakewell? Email rakewell@apollomag.com. Follow @Rakewelltweets.

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The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

Auerbach’s lighter side; Eddie Izzard’s fear of fine art; and more tittle-tattle from around the art world

23 May 2017

The Nigel Farage commemorative plate

An artist has depicted Nigel Farage’s plane crash on a plate. UKIP says ‘Meh’.

20 May 2017

The fine art of losing elections

Hillary Clinton’s hubristic confetti and Ed Milliband’s garden sculpture

18 May 2017
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The Rake’s Progress: the Venice Biennale in gossip

A round-up of last week’s art world tittle-tattle

16 May 2017
The Mansudae Grand Monument, huge statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images

Why North Korea is mad about monuments

The North Korean regime has banned foreigners from visiting monuments to the Kim dynasty

13 May 2017
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Eight of the wackiest biennale titles (so far)

Eight of the stranger biennial concepts of recent years

11 May 2017
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The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

A round-up of last week’s art world tittle-tattle

9 May 2017
Ed Sheeran (2016), Colin Davidson. © Colin Davidson

Ed Sheeran has a Van Gogh moment

A portrait of the singer-songwriter has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in London

7 May 2017

The stunt artist who ticked all the boxes at the Met Gala

Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich pitched up at the Met Gala naked – and in a sealed box

4 May 2017
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The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

A round-up of last week’s art world tittle-tattle

2 May 2017
Hermann Nitsch (detail)

Beauty and the (dying) beasts

A dead bull is causing trouble in Tasmania, while Damien Hirst has been accused of mass murder (of houseflies)

28 Apr 2017

The nude Archimedes making trouble in Hampshire

A naked statue of Archimedes has provoked a complaint in an English village

25 Apr 2017
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The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

A round-up of last week’s art world tittle-tattle

25 Apr 2017
Macron à Mont-Sainte Victoire

The French presidential candidates avoiding French art

Pluralist Emmanuel Macron came under fire for saying he’s never seen any French art

21 Apr 2017

A bundle of bungles at the Museum of Failure

A museum dedicated to disastrous products and ideas is set to open in Sweden

21 Apr 2017

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

Luke Skywalker’s cereal box collection; Alex Jones’s ‘performance art’; Nice’s accidental Yves Klein art trail; and a reason to look forward to 8 June…

19 Apr 2017
Fountain (1917), Alfred Steiglitz, Published in The Blind Man (No. 2).

The art world goes potty for Duchamp’s urinal

A sprinkling of subversive celebrations to mark the centenary of Duchamp’s urinal

14 Apr 2017

Pierce Brosnan picks up the paintbrush

The former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan is to exhibit his paintings in Paris

13 Apr 2017
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The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

Eduardo Paolozzi’s comedy moment; cooking with Georgia O’Keeffe; and at home with Klaus Biesenbach

12 Apr 2017

How street art became a hobby for posh kids

Instagram promotion, protests daubed in Latin… graffiti is starting to look like a genteel pastime

8 Apr 2017

The painful practice of cashing in on the Crucifixion

The clergy in Manchester have condemned a wheeze to sell crucifixion experiences

7 Apr 2017
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The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

The pick of last week’s art world tittle tattle – including the best April fools

4 Apr 2017

The unlikely art of the beer bottle

How beer art went from a Gilbert & George lager bottle to museums opening their own beer gardens

1 Apr 2017

A short history of (pretty dreadful) football statuary

The Cristiano Ronaldo bust is the latest in a tradition of bad football sculptures

31 Mar 2017