Apollo Magazine

David Hockney – too much in the Sun?

David Hockney's redesign of the Sun masthead split opinions in the art world

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

Last week, UK tabloid the Sun announced with great fanfare that it would be distributing a ‘free David Hockney’ in the following day’s edition. The grand old man of British art had indeed contributed his skills to the paper, subtly redesigning the paper’s logo on his iPad. ‘Once I had thought about the idea, it didn’t take me long’, he admitted.

The news quickly became one of Twitter’s top trending topics, with reactions ranging from the adulatory…


To the flat out incensed…

More than a few people, however, concluded that Hockney’s effort was an attempt to ‘troll’ the Murdoch-owned red top…

While others – in no way facetiously – disputed its authorship…

Perhaps the most accurate summary, however, belonged to Bendor Grosvenor on his Art History News blog: ‘The great man has doodled on the masthead. And that’s it.’

Got a story for Rakewell? Get in touch at rakewell@apollomag.com or via @Rakewelltweets.

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