The Funniest Artists to Follow on Twitter

The art world is embracing new mediums. In March, the first Vine art was sold at the Moving Image Art Fair. Next month, MoMA will unveil their first exhibition entirely on sound art. Technology is taking over the museum.

That goes for social media as well, of course. While Tumblr has the monopoly on actually showing works of art, Twitter has become a space for artists to engage with their audiences beyond their creations. A year ago, arts writer Ben Valentine penned (typed) a piece for Hyperallergic called "Twitter as Art," where he asserted that artists use Twitter in three ways: to promote their works á la Andy Warhol, as a source for creating artwork, or as performance art itself. Because Twitter is dominated by pop culture (see: all the Royal Baby buzz yesterday), it is also a forum to artists to play with the relationship between high and low. Our favorite tweeters hilariously mix the white walls of the art world with whatever is hot online, and they make up our list of The Funniest Artists to Follow on Twitter.

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Twitter: @LaurenDevine

Lauren Devine's Twitter handle reads, "Full time muse, part time popstar." We don't really know if that qualifies her as a "serious" artist, but she does hang with the folks at fashion/art crossover DIS Magazine, and she takes on celebrity culture like the best performance artists. In 2011, when artists asked women to dress as Kim Kardashian at Art Basel Miami, Devine stepped up to the challenge and re-created Kim's W cover with Barbara Kruger. We'd only expect that her Twitter was just as in-your-face funny.

Twitter: @caseyjellison

Casey Jane Ellison is both an animation artist and stand-up comedian, and her Twitter doesn't disappoint. When she's not tweeting about portraits and ass size, she makes strange CGI creations that are both creepy and awesome. Ellison also started Aboveground Animation, a digital arts collective.

Twitter: @SSION

SSION is a musical group headed by the eccentric Cody Critcheloe (and his mustache and his unibrow). SSION's '80s throwback style is a mix between musical concert and performance art. The group recently embarked on a Eurotour, and their tweets document a hilarious cultural clash of what happens when Americans artists go to Europe.

Twitter: @ALEX_McLEOD_

Digital artist Alex McLeod creates CGI worlds that look like they came from Avatar, Mario Kart, Candyland, or all three. While his creations make us re-think the real and the imagined, his Twitter also messes with our perception. McLeod types in all caps and often uses hard-to-decipher symbols from the Greek Alphabet. Once you catch his meaning, however, it's so worth it.

Twitter: @artnotfound

As we would expect from his Twitter handle, Manny 404 has fun with the interaction between art, the Internet, and consumerism. The man behind Art 404 (Art Not Found), Manny embraces the commercialization of art (his site opens with Apple, Nike, and AT&T icons). He also uses the online world as a medium for creating works, including projects involving Photoshop, the hacker group Anonymous, and the Sims. We would only be disappointed if his Twitter wasn't this good.

Twitter: @ryder_ripps

Ryder Ripps resides in the virtual world, creating works that engage with technology and online content. He is the man behind the image sharing website dump.fm, and he lived in the Red Bull Music Academy and documented his energy drink-induced experience online for a performance called #HyperCurrentLiving. Besides his clever tweets, Ripps' Twitter profile is hilariously witty, featuring an "image loading" GIF as his profile picture.

Twitter: @RyanTrecartin

Los Angeles-based artist and filmmaker Ryan Trecartin has been recognized as an emerging force in the art world in the past decade. His multi-media works are a barrage of color, collage, and video. In 2011, his exhibit "Any Ever" at MoMA's PS1 featured videos of Trecartin masked, costumed, and made up to create something that looked like an acid trip. He's also one of the artists making us pay attention on Twitter.

Twitter: @jeanettehayes

We already have a big crush on Jeanette Hayes, and her Twitter just makes us love her more. The recent Pratt graduate is one of the most prolific tweeting artists who even live tweeted the BET Awards this year. Even though she appears to spend all her time online, she also finds time to mix Renaissance works with visuals from YouTube, Twitter, GIFs and Photobooth. On her Twitter, she mixes Frederick Sandys with Lindsay Lohan.

Twitter: @therealhennessy

NYC artist Jayson Musson developed the persona of Hennesey Youngman, a YouTube art critic who schooled everyone with his "Art Thoughtz." His Twitter can be seen as an extension of this virtual performance, commenting on the art world in his signature style.

Twitter: @RaymondPettibon

Pettibon is most famous for designing the album art for the 70s punk band Black Flag, but his tweets look like they were typed out by an LOL cat or a 15-year old girl with a penchant for "abbrevs." But his Twitter may actually be a work of performance art on it's own. Most of his tweets come in the form of short rhymes about Burma Shave, mimicking the company's ad campaign where they posted rhyming roadside signs about their shaving cream. Pettibon's version is much funnier.

Twitter: @Powhida

William Powhida used to work as an art critic, so he knows when to call bullshit on the art world. His works engage with the decline of contemporary art, mapping out the biggest breadwinners in the gallery circuit. In 2011, he staged a show where her appeared as a "douche bag," popping champagne in his VIP area for the self-consciously self-righteous show POWHIDA. On Twitter, he continues to point out the commercialization of the art world in biting satire. His take on Jay-Z and Marina Abramovic is priceless.

Twitter: @RichardPrince4

Prince has based his art career on re-appropriating images, whether that means blowing-up the Marlboro cowboy or compiling images of hot girls from motorcycle magazines. His obsession with visual culture means he gets into some sticky situations over copyrighted images, something he's not afraid to tweet about. Prince even claims that he came up with Twitter in 1990 (bird logo and all), and he didn't sue anyone when his idea was "stolen."

Prince was involved in a copyright infringement lawsuit about an image he used of Bob Marley in one of his works when he tweeted one of his most viral images — a compilation of all 57 of Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriends in one image. When he won the Bob Marley suit, he tweeted a new image of Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriends, and this one had dreads. Richard Prince #FTW.