The Royal Academy goes gonzo

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It’s been quite a week for the Royal Academy, what with the venerable old institution electing the first female president in its 251-year history. What has really caught your correspondent’s eye, however, is the radical new world of the RA’s Twitter account, which has decided to throw caution to the wind and end 2019 in full gonzo mode.

Since mid November, the account (423,000 followers and counting) has taken a maverick turn, abandoning its previously austere tone and launching into surreal tangents and other flights of fancy: artists’ daemons, tales of pigeons and London taxi drivers, and an extensive ‘choose your own adventure thread’ featuring broccoli and Scampi Fries (which are not, to Rakewell’s knowledge and disappointment, available in any of the RA’s extensive cafes and bars).

In recent weeks, @royalacademy has launched various wacky aphorisms and off-piste puzzlers:

You are an artwork and you deserve your personal space.

Scream your alarm at whoever transgresses your elegant rope barrier.

— Royal Academy (@royalacademy) November 24, 2019

your curator can be your mum

— Royal Academy (@royalacademy) December 3, 2019

Do you ever come across art you made as a child or teenager and wonder how you didn’t grow up to be a serial killer?

— Royal Academy (@royalacademy) December 4, 2019

if baby yoda had a favourite artwork, what would it be?

— Royal Academy (@royalacademy) December 5, 2019

…Instances of madcap art criticism:

hands are hard pic.twitter.com/cxXIw42RKa

— Royal Academy (@royalacademy) December 6, 2019

…A touch of light trolling:

sometimes we think about how annoyed all the other Royal Academies are that we nabbed the @royalacademy handle first

— Royal Academy (@royalacademy) December 13, 2019

…And, erm, a creative emoji collage:

The perfect Christmas tree ornament to adequately hide your thunder: https://t.co/5vpuZCp7jM#RAAdvent pic.twitter.com/DgEzeuQkr1

— Royal Academy (@royalacademy) December 6, 2019

What has got into the Royal Academy? Is this institutional critique? A student art project? Russian interference? Rakewell demands to know!

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