Rakewell

Bison at the Wildwood Trust nature reserve in Kent on 18 July 2022.

Welcome to Britain, where the wild bison now roam

Bringing the European bison to Kent is intended to do wonders for the woodland, but Rakewell can’t help wondering if art needs rewilding too

22 Jul 2022
Valentino haute couture fall/winter 22/23 fashion show on 8 July, 2022 on the Spanish Steps in Rome. Photo: Franco Origlia/Getty Images

A summer of madness on the Spanish Steps

First a man in a Maserati, then the hurling of a scooter – and now a spat between fashion houses. What on earth has got into everyone?

15 Jul 2022

What really went on inside Number 10

In the light of Boris Johnson’s resignation, Rakewell examines a leaked invoice supposedly detailing the exquisite interiors of Number 10

8 Jul 2022
Boris Johnson at the Prado before a dinner of the leaders of NATO member states on 29 June 2022.

NATO’s night out at the Prado

Leaders of the alliance’s member countries have a lot on their minds at the moment, but there was still time to look pensive in front of Old Master paintings at this week’s summit

1 Jul 2022
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT (left); The Hood (right).

Striking resemblances – the puppets with a surprisingly political side

Recent industrial action by railworkers in the United Kingdom has got Rakewell thinking about the difference between men and marionettes

24 Jun 2022
BTS

How will the art world cope without BTS?

Rakewell despairs at the recent announcement that K-pop sensation BTS are taking a hiatus. Is this really the end?

17 Jun 2022
(2005), Antony Gormley, installed on Crosby Beach, Merseyside.

Trash talk – the antagonising antics of Antony Gormley

Rakewell wonders whether Apollo readers can corroborate the recent and rather bewildering claim that the British sculptor has been stealing his neighbour’s bins

9 Jun 2022
English Heritage, via Twitter

Fit for a queen? The quirkiest Jubilee tributes

As the country prepares for a blowout, Rakewell takes a look at some of the more peculiar ways in which people are marking the occasion

2 Jun 2022

The crème de la crème of bungled art attacks

The Mona Lisa has been smeared with cream cake in an inscrutable act of climate protest

30 May 2022
Bob Dylan in 1962. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Has Bob Dylan got a bit too close to the Bone?

Rakewell raises an eyebrow at the musician’s latest three-way collaboration with producer T Bone Burnett and Christie’s

27 May 2022

Are all the V&A’s chickens coming home to roost?

Rakewell laments what has been a rather dismal week for the Grande Dame of South Kensington, involving the UK government and a Russian-owned Fabergé egg

20 May 2022

Immaterial girl – Madonna enters the metaverse

Madonna was once NSFW. Now, thanks to Beeple, she has turned herself into an NFT

15 May 2022
Portrait of Roy Keane (2020), Toby Michael. © the artist

Roy Keane’s long road to respectability

The winning entry in the inaugural Football Art Prize depicts Roy Keane in sombre mood, but Rakewell still treasures the player-turned-pundit’s more devilish side

8 May 2022

A question for Viola Davis: what is the world without critics?

Following Viola Davis’ recent claim that critics serve no purpose, Rakewell asks the actor to reconsider their role as champions of the overlooked

29 Apr 2022

Peacockery – the male artists vying for attention at the Venice Biennale

Rakewell finds that Cecilia Alemani’s focus on women artists at the Venice Biennale is ruffling a few feathers among the males of the species

22 Apr 2022
Alexander Skarsgård The Northman.

The long shadow of the long sword

After recent revelations about the inspirations behind ‘The Northman’, Rakewell regards its director Robert Eggers as a man of refined sensibilities

14 Apr 2022
Jean Smart, Hacks

The most important art collector on TV

Rakewell marvels at HBO’s surprisingly true-to-life portrayal of the obsessive art collector in pursuit of a Jean Royère pepper shaker

7 Apr 2022

The art historian who became a Viking

Rakewell applauds Ghislaine Wood, deputy of director of the Sainsbury Centre and now the proud Godmother of a Viking longship

1 Apr 2022
Wings of Glory

Fear and loathing at Chatsworth House

Rakewell wonders what to make of the artists of Burning Man festival taking over Capability Brown’s idyllic landscape in Derbyshire

25 Mar 2022
The real thing: Anna Sorokin being led away after being sentenced in May 2019 following a conviction for multiple counts of grand larceny and theft of services.

Is Anna Sorokin bringing prison art back in vogue?

The scammer of the art world has now joined its ranks – but how does the work she has made in jail measure up to the great prison art of the past?

18 Mar 2022
Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and Robert Pattinson as Batman, 2022. Photo: Jonathan Olley; courtesy Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo; © Warner Bros

Whatever happened to Bruce Wayne’s good taste?

Robert Pattinson’s caped crusader has a fine line in leather boots – but, alas, none of his forebears’ flair for home decoration

13 Mar 2022
Richard Gere in American Gigolo.

Richard Gere gets in touch with his spiritual side

The film star has spoken of the spiritual qualities of the photographs in his collection, but that hasn’t stopped him from putting them up for auction

4 Mar 2022
Richard Griffiths as Uncle Monty in 'Withnail and I’.

Uncle Monty, auction darling

The items that furnished Uncle Monty’s apartment in ‘Withnail and I’ have proved quite the draw at auction

27 Feb 2022
The Rex Whistler mural at Tate Britain

Who would take on the Tate’s Rex Whistler mural?

The Tate has announced a new commission to respond to its racist mural but why would any artist accept?

18 Feb 2022