The Rake’s Progress: A Week in Gossip

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

Halloween approaches, and the ghouls are out in force. But one question remains for arty trick-or-treaters: what to wear to the ball? If you’re stuck for ghoulish sartorial choice, never fear: Vogue magazine is on hand to help with some crafty tips for creating art-inspired costumes.

‘Halloween is your annual invitation to exercise creative freedom’, reads the fashion bible’s guide, ‘So when deciding on your costume, whom better to take inspiration from than the original rule-breakers: the artists.’

‘Whom’ indeed? Pedantry aside, Vogue lists names Warhol’s Marilyn, Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and Picasso’s Girl Before a Mirror as potential sources of inspiration, along with Klimt’s Adele Bloch-Bauer I (‘for that sexy kitten look’). Truly, terrifying.

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Bad news for champagne brand Vranken-Pommery, which has this week been ordered to pay €133.500 for destroying an installation artist Anita Molinero built for the mark’s 2012 ‘Expérience Pommery’ exhibition.

It’s not all conflict between the worlds of art and booze, however. The Rake hears news that Korean minimalist Lee Ufan has been commissioned to design a label for the 2013 vintage of Château Mouton-Rothschild. In reward for his services, Ufan will receive several cases of the wine as payment. You yourself will be able to see and indeed taste the fruits of his labour… for just $359 per bottle. Cheers!

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After a hard day’s retail therapy, there’s nothing Rakewell likes better than kicking back to watch a spot of challenging avant-garde art. He is cheered by news that the Science Museum is to lay on a display at Kent’s Bluewater shopping centre (it promises to be ‘a unique mix of exciting live science demonstrations, interactive experiments, gadgets and gifts’). But what really piques his interest is a communiqué from the ICA’s Fig-2 project, inviting him to partake in ‘a special day of art and shopping’ at Bicester Village, Oxfordshire’s premier luxury outlet.

Visitors will travel to the home of ‘chic outlet shopping’ on a special ‘art train’ before getting the chance to inspect site specific installations by four Fig-2 artists. If the work of Shezad Dawood, Annika Strom et al aren’t for you, you can browse Bicester’s exclusive shopping streets for that perfect Anya Hindmarch clutch, or treat yourself to a show by the Bicester Village Performers.

Reports of this year’s Frieze speculated on ‘the death of the white cube’. Verily, they hadn’t seen anything.

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Where did it all go wrong for poor old Damien Hirst? Once upon a time, he was the golden boy of British art, but these days nary a week goes by without someone penning a lengthy character assassination. Last month, however, it seemed he might have finally redeemed himself when his enormous new gallery in south London opened to largely favourable reviews.

This week, alas, it’s back to square one. News that Hirst is to embark on the construction of a ‘superbasement’ underneath his John Nash designed London home has been met with widespread criticism. For his part, Rakewell can’t help but be cautiously optimistic. At least it will provide a space for the artist to keep the woeful ‘Blue Paintings’ he exhibited at the Wallace Collection safely out of sight for the next eternity or so.

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Finally, Rakewell got very excited over rumours that James Turrell had in some capacity contributed to rapper Drake’s new video. The clip, which accompanies his single ‘Hotline Bling’, appears to draw inspiration from the notoriously reclusive artist’s light installations. Turrell, sadly, has denied any involvement with Mr Drake and his associates. In a somewhat terse response to Hyperallergic, the outlet that prompted the rumours, the artist wrote:

While I am truly flattered to learn that Drake f*cks with me, I nevertheless wish to make clear that neither I nor any of my woes was involved in any way in the making of the Hotline Bling video.

So that’s that cleared up then.

Got a story for Rakewell? Email rakewell@apollomag.com.