Rediscovering Kanye West's Lost Art and Design Tweets

On July 28, 2010, Kanye West joined Twitter. He was later than most artists and celebrities to join the platform, which got popular in 2009, and he even chastised the company for allowing fake accounts posing as him to exist before he decided to join. Everything changed when, on the same day he started tweeting from @KanyeWest, he performed new songs at Twitter and decided to be an active user.

Fast forward to the present moment, and Kanye's deleted all of tweets, except his most recent ones in promotion of Yeezus. No one knows why he did it, but it reminds us of the time he deleted his blog, KanyeUniversecity, to much of his fans' dismay. Maybe he doesn't want all of his words or content to be permanent if it's not his music, or maybe it's something else entirely.

Regardless, the days when Kanye tweeted frequently were sweet ones. He reminded his fans of his humor, honesty, vulnerability, and relatabilty post-VMA Taylor Swift interruption, and it was endearing. In particular, Kanye continued to prove that he's much more than a producer and rapper—he's an artist, inventor, curator, and facilitator of work and ideas that he wants to live on forever.

In getting ready for the June 18 release date of Yeezus, we've unearthed over 30 of Kanye's tweets specifically about art and design. If you were following him during the times they were tweeted, then you probably remember their impact. Remember when #KanyeTweets was a meme and trending topic, with even Aziz Ansari making up his own Kanye-esque tweets? Well, we do, and a lot of it stemmed from the art and design he prefers....like marble conference tables, Versace sofas, French book covers from the 1800s, Picasso, projectors, and so much more.

RELATED: A Visual Guide To Understanding Kanye West's Art Tweets

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Rediscovering Kanye West's Lost Art and Design Tweets

Ultimately, Kanye's relatability came through in the time he was on Twitter, especially in moments like this.

Kanye shared a lot of deep thoughts when he tweeted more regularly, and this was definitely a highlight. Is it a blessing or a curse for an artist to be understood in their lifetime? Of course, the majority are not understood and may never be.

This was a real moment in Twitter history. Do you remember the countless blogs that took shots at this? It's easy to poke fun at his insistency on an object for a meeting, whether it be a joke or not, but this speaks to his good taste in design more than anything else.

Wise words from Yeezus.

As one of the most successful industrial designers out there, Marc Newson is not only inspirational but a god of lavish design. Kanye's suggestion to have Marc Newson, Jeff Koons, and Picasso design a boat together is actually mind-blowing, if you think about it.

Forever the multi-tasker and bridge between the worlds of hip-hop and pop culture, Kanye's tweets remind us of his enthusiasm for doing so. Maybe he was looking for a DP for the Runaway film.

This is perhaps one of Kanye's most famous tweets about art and design. While some probably laughed when it went up, it's a clear indication of his love for typography, which we've seen in his album and video releases throughout the years. Virgil Abloh, Kanye's creative director, recently Instagrammed an image of the font they've created for Yeezus.

We all get mad about things—getting our order wrong, losing things, or receiving the wrong type of Persian rug. uuuuugh!

If only Kanye could tweet this out again after what happened yesterday. His understanding of science and design as essential to the furthering of our culture was constantly affirmed by his tweets.

As of last Wednesday, apparently Rick Ross has become a videographer's nightmare.

This kind of openness and transparency made Kanye's days of frequent tweeting a joy for fans to be a part of.

We hope we get to see the result of DONDA designing the MTV Awards in the near future. Kanye's stream of DONDA tweets will forever go down in history as a moment in idealism and attempting to bridge all areas of culture and design.

Tweets like this helped make #kanyetweets a real meme, and we support those who still relate being on their grind with being on your "van Gogh 1889."

Kanye's exclamation points are missed. So are these realizations of what art means, especially in how it pertains to his work.

"The problem is staying an artist when you grow up." Kanye's love for Picasso runs deep, and he tweeted about him often.

As you'll see in even more of the following slides, typefaces and fonts were and remain important to Kanye, including for Yeezus.

Amidst creative musings and ideas, Kanye would drop his own album artwork. The delivery was fluid and made it feel like his inspiration was just as important as the final product.

Sade, Ali, Jay-Z, Johnny Depp, Ralph Lauren, Sean Penn, Mos Def, Lil Wayne, Angelina Jolie, Thom Yorke, Ellen, Spik Jonze, and M.I.A. are definitely some of the coolest famous creative people ever.

Perhaps the inspiration behind G.O.O.D.? #GettingOutOurDreams

"Sonic inventions curated by emotion." We miss that kind of talk.

Damn, and we still don't have them! Look forward to the Red Air Yeezy 2s on June 18.

Read our Visual Guide to Understanding Kanye West's Art Tweets if you need a refresher on baroque and mod.

It's true, artists tend to be either one or the other.

Read our Visual Guide to Understanding Kanye West's Art Tweets if you want a depiction of living inside a Helmut Newton or Guy Bourdin book.

It's no doubt a paradox that artists (and people in general) usually have to make a compromise in order to prosper, especially if you're of the opinion that artists are defined by being uncompromising.

It's safe to say that he already has.

We don't know exactly what Kanye used the calligraphers for, but this tweet was met with a lot of eager fans offering to be his calligraphers, of course.

Tweets like this help fans to realize how important an idea like symmetry is to Kanye. Most or all of his album covers and videos have been symmetrical and emote balance.

Did you know the difference between Gothic and Helvetic fonts before Kanye told you what they were? Hopefully the label got the message.

Another thing we miss about Kanye's tweets is how they showed what was inspiring him at any given time, including (but not limited to) artists like Tom Sachs and Jeff Koons, the Palace of Versailles, and this French book from the 1800s.

Another thing that we miss about Kanye's tweets is the way they translated the realness of his music to his random thoughts on design. As a lover of fashion and Versace, he wasn't afraid to admit that this sofa looks potentially hood.

People often overlook Kanye's involvement the creation of his work beyond the music, whether it be the colors in the Runaway film, the design of his tours, or his album packaging. When he was on Twitter, fans got a chance to realize that he even had the Pantone charts out when working on a project.

Another thing we miss about Kanye's tweets is how affirmative they often were. Don't front like seeing this tweet didn't help you to FEELTHEGLOW.

This is significant because it feels like a possible precursor to the idea for using projections of "New Slaves" around the world.