Meet the man filling Twitter with dead artists
When people think of Twitter, a lot of people tend to think of a black hole of baseless information that is portrayed in 140 characters or less.
However, Andrei Taraschuk saw the platform as a unique opportunity to showcase once forgotten artworks to a loyal following of art fans.
The Russian software engineer developed a series of “art bots”, which can be found on his personal Twitter feed, to help people become more acquainted with the lesser-known works of famous artists.
After completing his degree in art studies, Andrei went on to learn about software development and web design when he “felt like something was missing” in the social media market.
“I thought it would be interesting if I could follow dead artists on Twitter and see their art in my timeline,” Taraschuk said.
Andrei was hit with the idea back in 2014 when he began seeing famous works by his favourite artist Wassily Kandinsky on his timeline and wished to see his less-known art and sketches as a means of education.
Andrei teamed up with his friend and fellow software developer Cody Braun to create the “art bots”, which are a collaborative effort between him and his followers to share breath-taking artworks that have previously flown under the radar.
The first “art bots” made shared works by two of his favourite artists, Egon Schiele and Wassily Kandinsky, and have garnered tens of thousands of followers.
Andrei has also created bots that are specific to galleries or museums rather than specific artists, as his followers can get a rolling commentary on collections from the Brooklyn Museum among other global galleries.
Andrei believes that part of the fun of following his “art bots” is discovering art and artists you’ve never heard of before, all while educating others in the process.
Image credits: Shutterstock / Twitter @andreitr