Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art and museum stories.
The garden at 22 Old Queen Street was the place to be on Monday night, as prominent art world figures flocked in to toast Apollo’s brand new collector services online portal and celebrate the magazine’s 91st year in business.
Guests including Allen Jones RA, former Historic England CEO Simon Thurley and the Whitechapel Gallery’s Iwona Blazwick enjoyed a choice of exotic cocktails, fine wine and, of course, glasses of Pol Roger bubbly. The canapés, a selection of ingenious twists on macaroni cheese devised by ‘Return of the Mac’ – and featuring truffle oil, prawns and feta, no less – went down a storm, with Rakewell spotting one prominent museum director reaching for seconds as soon as he’d wolfed down his first bite.
Rakewell roved far and wide, noticing that conversation was dominated by recent political events. With this in mind, he approached Grayson Perry (in his guise as alter-ego Claire) for a quiet word. Grayson has been characteristically eloquent on the subject of the UK’s recent referendum on Europe. ‘Well that’s taught us peace loving, country running, money earning, forward looking, liberals a lesson,’ he tweeted the day that the result was announced.
Still, one question remains: what does Alan Measles, Perry’s well-travelled teddy bear, make of the vote to leave the EU?
‘Well to be honest I haven’t asked him yet,’ the Turner Prize winner admitted. ‘I think he’d probably be a bit horrified. At the same time, as a keen amateur anthropologist, I think he’s probably fascinated by people giving the middle finger to us in the elite.’
The Rake can’t wait to hear from the man – sorry, bear – himself.
Got a story for Rakewell? Get in touch at rakewell@apollomag.com or via@Rakewelltweets.