Rakewell

A home for street art…in museums and shopping malls

Street art is coming in from the cold in museums and commercial developments. It’s official – graffiti has become institutional.

6 Jun 2016

It’s culture vs the UK culture secretary in the Great British Brexit Debate

Artists and cultural figures have declared themselves for the ‘In’ campaign. Must make for some tricky meetings with the culture secretary…

31 May 2016

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

A prank ‘artwork’ at SFMOMA, and art thieves caught on camera in Madrid

30 May 2016

Coronation Street joins the northern renaissance

A Coronation Street character is heading to art school. What’s next, the Turner Prize?

26 May 2016

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

Victoria Beckham gets the Venus de Milo treatment; what Dubya’s family think of his painting; and the Pont des Arts minus the padlocks

23 May 2016

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

Sainsbury’s bid to employ an artist (for free); love in the Tate Modern carpark; and Fearne Cotton’s art for the apiarists

16 May 2016

Gun sculpture silenced in trigger-happy Texas

A university museum in Houston has removed a revolver from an artwork critical of Texan gun culture – and Rakewell is baffled by the decision

12 May 2016

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

The high-school pottery that fooled an antiques expert, Darth Vader hits the museums, and an artist who has removed his nipples in, erm, the name of art

10 May 2016
Damien Hirst's Pharmacy 2

Pills, thrills and (musical) bellyaches: lunch, the Damien Hirst way

Rakewell enjoys lunches Damien Hirst’s new Pharmacy 2 restaurant – if only the waiters would provide earplugs to drown out the ’90s soundtrack

4 May 2016

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

Art slides and crazy golf in London, and Giacometti’s Jezza phase

3 May 2016

William and Kate’s taste for the Old Masters

Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art…

28 Apr 2016

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

Italian scientists claim art is a stress buster, while the staff of a London gallery have been told to put their feet up. Rakewell has his doubts…

24 Apr 2016

The spirit of the Renaissance, via YouTube

Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art…

21 Apr 2016

Has Tate Modern secretly switched directors?

Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art…

18 Apr 2016

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

The garden bridge gets hijacked on Twitter. Plus, how Damien Hirst like his fish cooked (clue: he’s fussy)

18 Apr 2016

Found in Florence! The lost tribe of Leonardo

Rakewell likes nothing better than a good bit of amateur genealogy

17 Apr 2016
Handbags at dawn! Plans to install a statue of Margaret Thatcher have been quashed!

Mrs Thatcher’s missing handbag and the case of the disappearing duck

Rakewell ponders two statues in London that have come in for criticism because they are missing vital accessories

13 Apr 2016

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

David Shrigley’s foam hands, Olafur Eliasson’s shaky economics and a chance to buy Andy Warhol’s studio

12 Apr 2016

Pencils, irons and used underwear: the world’s wackiest museums

Whatever your thing, says Rakewell, there’s a museum for you out there somewhere

8 Apr 2016
Zac Goldsmith isn't the only mayoral candidate to have been left floundering this week by his ignorance of the city’s museums

The museum pratfalls of London’s mayoral candidates (yep, Zac AND Sadiq)

Neither Zac Goldsmith nor Sadiq Khan seem to know a thing about the capital’s museums

5 Apr 2016

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art…

4 Apr 2016

How Brazilian fowl play has left a Dutch artist spitting feathers

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman claims that Brazilian protesters have plagiarised his inflatable rubber duck.

2 Apr 2016
Narcissism helps to sell art? Explains why contemporary artists love mirrors so much

Top artists are narcissists. It’s official (sort of)

An academic paper claims you can tell an artist’s vanity by the size of their signature. Well, maybe.

30 Mar 2016

Dr Who isn’t the only art-historical lookalike out there – here are four more of the best

Rakewell picks out his favourite lookalikes in historical paintings, from David Cameron to Sylvester Stallone

28 Mar 2016