Meet the man filling Twitter with dead artists
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, Andrei Taraschuk saw the platform as a unique opportunity to showcase once forgotten artworks to a loyal following of art fans. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Russian software engineer developed a series of “art bots”, which can be found on his personal </span><a href="https://twitter.com/andreitr"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Twitter feed</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, to help people become more acquainted with the lesser-known works of famous artists. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I thought it would be interesting if I could follow dead artists on Twitter and see their art in my timeline,” Taraschuk said. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p>
<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image credits: Shutterstock / Twitter @andreitr</span></em></p>
