10 Famous Artists on Twitter

[Updated 8/14, 10AM]

In no particular order, but the order I thought of them:

1. Richard Prince — 960 Tweets including:
https://twitter.com/RichardPrince4/statuses/367277370950291456

See? Famous!

2. Vito Acconci — 1 Tweet:

Vito Acconci is now following you on Twitter.

— Vito Acconci (@VitoAcconci) November 16, 2009

Superfamous, but alas it’s unlikely that it’s Acconci who made the clever account. He hasn’t owned up to it that I know of. Maybe I’ll ask him at this.

3. John Lurie — 3,201 tweets including:

“We are dying. But we won’t all die, just enough so that you all die. Then we will come back. That is our plan.” best, The Bees

— John Lurie (@lurie_john) June 8, 2013

John Lurie just kicks ass. Example Example Example
I wanted an example from a Jim Jarmusch movie, but there weren’t even clips on YouTube. Someone tweet me something great and I’ll add it.
Here’s a great John Lurie clip:

4. Marilyn Minter — 410 tweets including:

Two paintings of mine from the 70s! Yikes! pic.twitter.com/K5cuCI0Xkp

— Marilyn Minter (@MinterMarilyn) February 27, 2013

How awesome is that? I thought I knew Marilyn Minter’s work pretty well, but I’d never seen anything like this before.

5. Hank Willis Thomas — 8,142 tweets including:

Did Jay-z just turn the whole #artworld into groupies. Pretty sneaky #picassobaby http://t.co/2JUQG41Zv1

— Hank Willis Thomas (@hankwthomas) July 10, 2013

This guy is prolific in his art and prolific on social media. Mostly tweets about his own work, but his work is great so we forgive him.

6. Raymond Pettitbon — 9,860 tweets including:

Greg Ginn sued me: copyright infringement. Settled ouyt of court: cuyt ‘the bars’ off my dyckk.2 pounds of revenge.

— Raymond Pettibon (@RaymondPettibon) August 10, 2013

AND

Road Deconstructioyn Ahead, Post Posited. Better Read Than Dead, Wrote Poet. BURMA SHAVE

— Raymond Pettibon (@RaymondPettibon) August 13, 2013

Have fun deciphering! I once spent about an hour with a friend working on one of these. It’s like cryptic crossword clues in the London Times. BURMA SHAVE!

7. Yoko Ono — 5,630 tweets including:

You are water. I’m water. We’re all water in different containers. That’s why it’s so easy to meet. Someday we’ll evaporate together.

— Yoko Ono (@yokoono) January 27, 2012

Ooooooooh, Yooooookooooooo.

8. Queen Latifah — 921 tweets including:

Sending Peace and Love to everyone today! be Blessed!

— Queen Latifah (@IAMQUEENLATIFAH) July 22, 2013

(Kidding, but does anyone read past the first couple?)

8. Nayland Blake — 6,434 tweets including:

(That was the real 8 for those paying attention.)

9. Bo Bartlett — 3,318 tweets including:

ditto that “@museumnerd If you think realist painting is boring, you need to look again at Andrew Wyeth! http://t.co/06wpWvrR”

— Bo Bartlett (@theBoBartlett) July 8, 2012

(And now I’m just shouting myself out. Shameless.) Bo’s rad though. Paintings all over the US in probably a dozen twenty-three (23) museums and public collections. His sweet and lovely wife Betsy Eby is also great on Twitter! I’d have included her outright, but Bo’s more famouser. For now.

10. William “G.E.N.I.U.S.” Powhida — 19,564 tweets including:

“When art is finally worthless, it will be free for everyone to make and enjoy.” oh boy. #valueandprice http://t.co/oJHIQP4r8i @benadavis

— William (@Powhida) August 8, 2013

(Bill’s famous, right?)

10. AA Bronson (What? I had two 8’s, I can have two 10’s.) — 582 tweets including:

Hasn’t tweeted for a month or so since arriving in Germany, but he’s definitely super famous from when he was in that bluesy American rock band from Houston with Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard.

Update 1 – 2am-ish.

Who am I missing? So far, I’ve gotten a few suggestions on Twitter. Still editing. Maybe.

Update 2 – Added blurbs about Marilyn Minter, Raymond Pettitbon, Hank Willis Thomas, and Bo Bartlett. Other famous artists will be in a forthcoming 10 (More) Famous Artists on Twitter if you put them in the comments, I’ll credit you! I’ve definitely got to add Mickalene Thomas, Tom Sachs, and others…