Image via Complex Original
In this day and age, the Internet permeates almost every aspect of our lives. It was only a matter of time until the art scene became saturated with fresh faces who use the Internet in ways never before seen. These artists have taken the World Wide Web and used it as their marketing tool, muse, and even exhibition space.
With platforms like Instagram and Twitter, artists and audiences alike have been unbound from the restrictions of exhibition spaces. Buyers can now order new works straight from an artist's Instagram feed while social networks like Tumblr allow artists to reach untold amounts of people from the comfort of their beds. In a time of constant Internet access, the artist and art addict have never been so close. Here are The Craziest Stories of Artist Internet Success.
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Brandon C. Long
Year: Joined Tumblr in 2009
Brandon C. Long's unnerving photography and murky compositions have gained him a ton of attention among Tumblr users and photographers alike. Long's popularity online has allowed him to work with big names like Club Monaco and Time Magazine. According to the artist, "Tumblr has helped me in ways that five years ago would have never been possible unless you're a celebrity or connected to someone who is extremely influential."
Peppe D'Alessandro
Year: Drake posted his work on Instagram in 2014
Lets face it, there's a certain stigma that surrounds fan art. What began as a portrait of your favorite celebrity can end up resembling your guinea pig more than a pop icon. Such is not the case for Peppe D'Alessandro, who uses his medium of colored pencils to create lifelike portraiture of today's favored celebrities. D'Alessandro's popularity skyrocketed after rapper Drake came across one of his portraits and posted it on his own Instagram. Peppe's skills have garnered him an astounding 17,000 followers.
Petra Cortright
Year: Created her pivotal webcam work in 2007
Petra Cortright's sinuous self-portraits and tropical stripper scenes have earned her a place among the elite of Internet artists. With her Web Cam and Wifi in tow, Cortright has carved her place in the cyber art world and then some. Petra's work has been shown in the New Museum as well as the Venice Biennale.
Baron Von Fancy
Year: Joined Instagram in 2014
Baron Von Fancy utilizes Instagram as his exhibition space, starting with his 31,000 followers and branching out to a much wider demographic. For Baron von Fancy, Instagram provides a venue for viewers to see his big, bold tongue-in-cheek idioms they wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. The visibility his Instagram provides has brought on collaborations with Rag & Bone, Porsche.
Richard Haines
Year: Started his blog in 2008
Illustrator Richard Haines uses his blog What I Saw Today as a way to display his charcoal drawings. Since showcasing his sketch-like, almost molten works, he has been called upon by names as big as Prada, The New York Times, and J. Crew. At present, you can find his works on your Instagram feed. With almost 10,000 followers, this new and immediate marketplace is working in his favor.
Andrew Stewart
Year: Joined Twitter in 2009
Andrew Stewart, better know as Viruul to the world of social media, is taking the cyber art scene by storm. His colorful characters take on their own personalities and dispositions as seen in his beloved character Nightmare Luffy. Stewart uses the power of social media to bring together fellow anime lovers and drawings of their favorite characters in a series called "One Piece."
Jon Rafman
Year: Joined Tumblr in 2008
Jon Rafman's innovative use of Google Street View surpasses any attempt you've ever made to creep on you ex's house via desktop. Rafman, in his attempt to set out and explore the virtual landscape, brought to the forefront notions of the artist's gaze. Since his love affair with Google Street View, he has exploded on the art scene with shows from Berlin to New York. He attributes much of his success to Tumblr.
Mr. Div
Year: Joined Tumblr in 2009
If you've ever caught yourself stuck in front of your computer screen with a bit of drool on your keyboard, you were most like enraptured by the work of Mr. Div. His spellbinding GIFs have a feeling of nostalgia, yet remain essentially modern, stopping viewers in their tracks time and time again. His memorizing GIFs, which became popular on Tumblr, have caught the attention creative masterminds Daft Punk and Frank Ocean, just to name a few, and his Tumblr following is upwards of 120,000.
Jaime Martinez
Year: Joined Tumblr in 2009
Jamie Martinez used his Tumblr and GIF-making skills to create works that tweak and twitch before the eye, most notably GIFs of M.I.A. The Matangi artist loved the eerie GIFs so much that she swiftly signed Martinez to her label, NEET. Martinez's subtle yet arresting images have innumerable reblogs and have landed him in the company of yet another creative genius.
INSA
Year: Started making GIF-iti in 2013
Following his realization that art was no longer limited to walls but instead easily viewable with a click of a mouse, INSA concluded that there was a need for a form of art that responded directly to the Internet and its abilities. INSA's combination of scintillating street art and the new age of the GIF has created an innovative platform for viewing street art around the world in new and inventive ways. This medium has become known as GIF-iti.
Helen Green
Year: Joined Tumblr in 2011, started working for Lady Gaga shortly after
Living in a society where there is a new icon almost every week, Helen Green captures their quintessential essence in her fluid and vibrant works. With portraits ranging from Lorde to Gaga, you can't go anywhere on your dashboard without trolling past one of her jaw dropping works. Known to the Tumblr-sphere as DollyChops, her URL ring bells on every art blog and Lady Gaga fan page. After all her, colorful portrayal of the pop icon and popularity online gained here a position in the Haus of Gaga.
Ashley Longshore
Year: Started selling work off of Instagram in 2014
Acclaimed artist Ashley Longshore uses her Instagram for more than just the occasional selfie. While you were posing in the mirror, she was selling works of art with starting prices of $30,000. When one combines the immediacy of Instagram with the talented Longshore, the possibilities are endless.
Wade Guyton
Year: Posted his reproducible work on Instagram in 2014
Instagram has a million and one uses, but few have probably ever used it with such angst. Wade Guyton, an artist whose medium mainly revolves around ink-jet printers and photocopiers, threatened pure upheaval with an Instagram picture when he almost inundated the market with additional remakes of his ink-jet on linen composition, Unititled. Thankfully (for some) he decided against it, allowing Christies to go above and beyond their preconceived sales target of his work.
Justin Hager
Year: Joined Tumblr in 2010
It all began with a surfboart. Justin Hager's mélange of seemingly opposite cultural references, as seen in his version of American Gothic, is sure to find its way to your Twitter feed sooner or later. His witty and sometimes satirical works of art bring together parts of society that you thought would never meet. Prime example: Boyz n the Hood + The Beach Boys = Beach Boyz n the Hood. With Twitter as his main market, there is no limit to his reach.
Donald Robertson
Year: Started posting his work on Instagram in 2014
Most teens would shutter at the idea of their dad figuratively stepping foot anywhere near them on Instagram. Donald Robertson may be the only exception. This father of five managed to juggle a 9-5 and a bustling family, and he still had enough time to produce a vast amount works of art commenting on everything from giraffes to Anna Wintour's signature haircut.
When he's not enveloped in his art, he works as Estée Lauder's creative director and in-house art purveyor. After weighing his fellow co-workers' corkboards down with his quirky portrayals of pop culture, his assistant decided it was time to move beyond the office and onto Instagram. On that day "DonaldDrawbertson" was born. Since then, his social media following has skyrocketed. Robertson's celebrity commentary does not go unnoticed, with re-grams for Lupita Nyong'o, comments from Pharrell, and fashion collaborations with Giles Deacon.
Daniel Arnold
2014: Made $15,000 off of Instagram in one day in 2014
What did you do on your last birthday? Most likely it wasn't on the same caliber as Daniel Arnold. The self-proclaimed "business idiot" photographer managed to make 15K in one day on Instagram. With the haphazard announcement of his selling of 4x6 prints of his work for $150 each, the requests flooded in, leaving him with a couple thousand dollars richer.
Christoph Rehage
Year: Created his viral video in 2007
Currently in his early 30s, Christoph Rehage can now look back at his 11-month expedition across China with tenure. The then 26-year-old's 2,796-mile trek from Beijing to his final stop in Ürümqi gained critical acclaim amongst the social media populace after his short film The Longest Way found its way into every inbox, MySpace page, and Facebook post.
Reed + Rader
Year: Founded in 2007
Reed + Rader is the brainchild of two hometown friends who came to New York and took the city by storm. The duo began with photography, but when that wasn't enough, they decided to look to the source that brought them together in the first place, the Internet. Their evolution from still photography to pictures with movement elevated the GIF to a reputable form of art.
Yung Lenox
Year: Started posting his work on Tumblr in 2014
This bite-size bundle of creativity is pumping out some of the most concurrent hip-hop portraiture there is. Yung Lenox's medium of felt markers, combined with the trusty sharing power Instagram, has kicked his art career into high gear. At seven years old, his masterpieces of ODB and Cam'ron evoke the emotion of a Rembrandt portrait coalesced with the color pallet found in a 24 box of Crayola.
Lindsay Bottos
Year: Started her "Anonymous" project in 2014
We all have them, the commenters who loves to ruin our days with remarks only someone hiding behind a computer screen can concoct. Photography major and gender studies minor Lindsay Bottos takes her anon hate and posts it for the world to see. In these self-portraits, Bottos layers cruel anonymous comments atop photos of herself.
On January 26, she launched the project, called "Anonymous," which has gained a lot of attention. Following the post, Bottos' series of photos received tens of thousands of notes and over 20,000 new followers.