7 Inspiring Artists To Follow On Twitter
If you’re an artist creating new work day in and day out, finding snappy morsels of inspiration can be hard to find. Sometimes though, inspiration can strike in 140 perfect characters, and Twitter can be an abundant resource for innovating, inspiring artists. Below are 8 of the most exciting and relevant artists and writers who are doing Twitter right. The creative folk listed below all have something in common: they are all game-changing bright artists who have consistently thrown ideas into the Twitterverse. If you’ve got your own go-to artists that you follow on Twitter to keep your work fresh, please let us know in the comments below.
John Lurie @lurie_john
John Lurie is a fixture of the New York City art scene. He’s been around for decades playing in his band the which saw flashes of fame in the 1990s. Lurie now makes paintings and his twitter is a quirky and often funny insight into being an artist who has seen it all. Lurie has starred in a number of Jim Jarmusch films and still remains relevant as a full-time creative producer and all-round NYC art world personality. Easily the nicest thing about Lurie’s twitter feed is his constant updates on artworks he makes, which are delightful, like Dog with Florida leg below.
Austin Kleon @austinkleon
Austin Kleon is an author, artist and writer who’s books on creativity have been popular in helping people make new work. His twitter is a consistent hit of focused, energetic inspiration. If you need a slew of links, inspo or blackout poetry fed to you to keep your creative juices flowing – Austin Kleon is your guy. His twitter is a punchy wormhole into his prolific body of drawing and writing on creativity.
Olafur Eliasson @olafureliasson
Olafur Elisasson is a European based artist who’s famous for large scale installations that play with weather, nature, and our relationship with inside and outside. His twitter is run by the team of people that help create his giant intallations and is frequently updated with snapshots of ambitious, mind-bending sculptures. In this tweet below he has created this industrial waterfall inside, which is related to another manufactured giant waterfall in NYC. For mind-expanding weirdness, Eliasson is a well of inspiration.
William Wegman @WilliamWegman
Remember the dogs with hands from Sesame Street? Those were actually artworks commissioned by Seasame Street created by the artist William Wegman. Wegman has spent a lifetime raising, training and making artworks with his dogs, the most famous of which was a series of portraits he did of his hound Man Ray. Following Wegman on twitter is a sweet insight into his earlier works and he does a ‘puppy Monday’ post, where you guessed it, he posts a shot of a puppy he has taken. Wegman’s twitter is a lovely mix of dogs (so many dogs) and great American art.
Ai Wei Wei @aiwwenglish
Ai Wei Wei uses his twitter account to keep his fans up to date on his upcoming artworks and his political status. Since being forced to surrender his passport in 2011 Wei Wei has been trapped in China for being a political dissident through the artworks he made. Recently though he had his passport returned to him (which he announced via Instagram). To keep up to date with one of the world’s most contemporary and politically relevant artists, following Wei Wei is key.
Ai Wei Wei posts mainly in Chinese or you can follow his auto-translated twitter feed in English here, or for a better translation follow this ‘beta’ account, which is run by a group of independent translators that are super fans of his work.
Yoko Ono @yokoono
Yoko Ono has one of the most bizarre, thought provoking twitter accounts run by an artist out there. Ono often posts provocations for artworks, performances or actions you can try. Some of them are just plain weird, while others are unexpectedly poetic and quite beautiful. To be delightfully surprised follow the famous artist for an insight into her squiggly stream of consciousness.
Carolina Miranda @cmonstah
Carolina Miranda is an arts writer for the LA Times and her twitter is a funny collection of snappy up to date contemporary critiques. If you want to keep up with what’s happening in US art, locally in California and across the nation Carolina is a good place to start. She posts a lot of pithy twit pics and political commentary too.
Do you have any favorite Twitter accounts run by artists? Let us know in the comments.
Header image: Magical ecape by psychoshadow
