Artists on Instagram that you NEED to follow… Part I
Hey there, art aficionados! Welcome back to my little corner of the internet, where we dive into all things creative and captivating. Today, I'm bursting with excitement to share a topic that's close to my heart – Instagram artists you absolutely must follow!
In this digital age, Instagram has become a vibrant gallery space, showcasing the diverse talents of artists from around the globe. From mesmerizing illustrations to breathtaking photography, there's an endless array of inspiration waiting to be discovered with just a scroll of your fingertips. Some of them even have reasonable prices! You’ll just have to click to find out :)
So, grab your favorite beverage, cozy up, and let's embark on a journey through the captivating world of Instagram artistry. Whether you're an avid art lover seeking fresh perspectives or simply looking to add some beauty to your feed, I've curated a list of talented creators who are sure to leave you spellbound.
Mione Plant
Mione Plant is an artist, writer and a recovering perfectionist.
Throughout her decade-long career in engineering, Mione - inspired by The Artist’s Way - took slow and incremental steps to rediscover her creativity while realigning with her curiosities. Eventually Mione left her career to pursue her creativity as a full-time artist.
Today, Mione pulls from her lived experiences and challenges to inspire a body of work rich with meaning and thoughtful transformation. Influenced by her daily practice of morning journaling, Mione weaves both visual and written stories of her personal breakthroughs and discoveries.
Mione believes we are all artists, and paints visual reminders to herself and her viewers to pay attention to the beauty and wonder around us, to listen for and follow our curiosities, and to play.
While her stories hold a consistent undertone of letting go of fear, Mione - inspired by the reconnection with her child-self along with raising her young son - infuses each painting with levity and playfulness. Her work’s signature elements of whimsy and vibrant color palettes juxtapose harmoniously with her accompanying message.
By blending the left and right brain, Mione balances the structure and precision of her engineering background with the freedom and fluidity of her creativity-filled life. The result is beautifully mathematical combinations both lovers of meticulous design and playful ease can enjoy.
Mione inspires us to find the artist within; to live a life rich with meaning, curiosity and joy.
CP KATE - There is a musical term that captures Kate’s approach towards her work; Con·tra·pun·tal, the art of sounding together or combining two relatively independent melodies; think Classical and Rock, Baroque and Pop.
Kate refers to her work as a collision of Classical and the everyday, a mix of then and now. She’s inspired by unexpected pairings whether it be in food, fashion, home interiors or art and has always gravitated toward asymmetry. Kate channels that inspiration to create juxtaposition art in the form of sculpture where she combines disparate elements that lead to a whole new sculptural experience.
Growing up in Minnesota Kate was influenced by her surroundings, her family were collectors of antiques. This energized her passion for and appreciation of Classical pieces while her more contemporary influences undoubtedly come from years of travel and her time living in the artist filled community of Portland.
Kate is a conceptual artist, she is self-taught in the art of mold building, casting and finishing. Her sculptures are handcrafted in her home-based studio in Portland, Oregon.
Babak Ganjei
Visual artist, comic book writer, musician, and radio presenter Babak Ganjei lives and works in London, UK. Inspired by the music and comedy of the 1990s, Babak is a prolific artist whose work is energetic, unpredictable, and darkly funny.
Babak Ganjei's work blends and unites humour, cultural references, and immediacy. After graduating from Central St Martins, Babak has continued to share his inner monologue through his art, resulting in ‘an inner monologue that isn’t an inner monologue anymore’. Ganjei gained recognition when his ‘Film Idea’ series went viral, which included works, ‘Chicken Nugget City’, ‘Kung-Fu Jesus’, and ‘Jurassic Shop’. Notable works include a painting of a Barclays Card auctioned in lieu of debt he owed and a set of twigs from his neighbourhood. Babak aspires to “get to a point where walking about Sainsburys would be (his) art,” pushing the boundaries of creativity and redefining the concept of ‘art’ itself. Ganjei's artworks are a reaction to daily occurrences, and reveal the influence of giant video shop posters that he collected when he was younger. Ganjei’s "Everything is really bad..." exhibition was shown at Atom in March 2019, “Honey Wagon” at Browns East in 2021, and "Babak Ganjei's Vibe Dump" in September 2022.
Mariko Mori is a Japanese artist best known for her sculptures, videos, photographs, installation, digital imagery, and performance pieces which often involve surreal or science fiction-like objects and imagery. In her videos and performances Mori appears costumed as a sexy cyborg, pop star, mermaid, futuristic goddess, as seen in her work Pure Land (1996-1998). The artist’s ability meld her own image in a series of chameleon-like reinventions, relates her work to the photographic practice of Cindy Sherman. “I am interested in circulating past iconography in the present in order to get to the future,” she has said of her work. Born in 1967 in Tokyo, Japan, Mori studied at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo while also working as a fashion model. The artist went on to study at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London, before attending the Whitney Museum of Art’s Independent Study program in New York. Mori currently divides her time between London, United Kingdom, New York, NY, and Tokyo, Japan. Today, Mori’s works are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris among others.
SIENNA MARTZ is an internationally recognized sculptor and fiber artist, constructing her work through alternative material manipulation blended with traditional textile techniques. As a vegan artist, she uses plant-based, recycled, and upcycled materials to ensure her work has a minimal impact on our magnificent planet. She is represented by contemporary art gallery Soapbox Arts.
Sienna has exhibited her unique work internationally in gallery and museum exhibitions—including in Seoul, Berlin, Rome, New York City, Chicago, Miami, and Philadelphia. Her work has graced the pages of major publications, including Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, House & Garden Magazine, The World of Interiors Magazine, Google Arts & Culture, and Domino Magazine. She received the 2024 Sculptor of the Year Singulart Award.
Sienna’s wall sculptures can be found in public and private collections across the globe—including the United States, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, and France. International art museums, galleries, luxury hotels & apartments, art consulting firms, dance companies, musicians, and non-profit organizations have commissioned her artwork. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Sienna is currently based in Vermont.
Cruz Ortiz
Cruz Ortiz is an American Contemporary Artist who uses multiple mediums examining connections to nature, hope, healing, beauty, endurance, and the cosmos. He uses bold graphic screen prints, figurative abstract portraiture, dream-like landscape paintings, temporal guerrilla installations, utilitarian machines, hand carved wood sculptures, large scale public art, video, and performance art. He is interested in the exhausting narratives searching for love and the sense of home land. Ortiz is constantly working in the studio, jumping from traditional studio methods such as painting and sculpture to commercial printmaking and print design projects. Most of his works are created with a sense of exigency, only so he can keep up with the ever evolving ideas and visual manifestos eager to be revealed. Early in his career he would thrash through photography, screen prints and video projects in a very punk skater rasquache manner, which involved staged performances and make-shift projection art parties.
Currently, Ortiz has been exclusively working on painting as a romantic art historical form of documentation. It is through the use of this archaic form that he is taking risks of institutionalizing subject matter. In a time where everything is now digital and virtual, Ortiz is mixing oil paintings and painting from direct observation, while detecting the importance of painting for the future. He is also very interested in how painting pushes the critical contextualization of social political issues. His artistic projects aim to center the periphery to capture moments in history, especially the settler state that has tried, over and over, to erase from collective memory. With a great sense of urgency to record, preserve, and disseminate, he paints.
Ortiz has committed himself to creatively collaborating with cultural arts organizations and social justice organizations for most of his career. He was also a public high school instructor for 15 years, working with diverse urban students. Cruz Ortiz has had solo exhibitions at: ARTPACE in San Antonio, Texas; the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, Texas; the University of Texas in Austin; The Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Barbara, in Santa Barbara, California; and the Judd Foundation, in Marfa, Texas. He has been invited to participate in many major international exhibitions and institutions such as: the Louvre in Paris, France; EV-A in Limerick, Ireland; the traveling exhibition Phantom Sightings with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; the San Juan Triennial in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and at The Blue Coat Museum, in Liverpool, England. His work is in the permanent collections of Ruby City, the San Antonio Museum of Art, the University of Texas at San Antonio Library Special Collections, the Arizona State University Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.
I'm a Brazilian artist based in Lisbon, Portugal, working primarily with oil paintings and other forms of artistic expression. As a mother and artist, my work is a way to express my emotions and inspire and provoke reflection in those who come into contact with it.
Through my paintings, I aim to convey a sense of positivity and wonder and a deeper understanding of the world around us. I aim to create something beautiful and meaningful that speaks to the heart and soul of each person who experiences it. I hope my work can inspire you positively and creatively.
That’s it for now! Stay tuned for Part II, III, IV, then the rebrand that will just be known as “Artists”.
And thanks for reading!
Artfully yours,
If you’re like me, you’ve had it up to here with those snooze-inducing showrooms that are more "museum" than "home". I'm flipping the script on home styling, and let me tell you, there won't be any rulebooks or tedious style history lessons involved. Just pure creativity.
Why do I rebel against the ordinary? For seven years, I meticulously crafted and refurbished homes solely for their resale value. I dwelled in a universe of beige, grey, black, and white. But in 2020, I reached my limit and gleefully abandoned all that for a fantastical realm of vibrant colors and delightful oddities. Dive deeper into my journey right here. 🌈🤹♂️🏡
My work and advice has been showcased in prestigious publications such as Architectural Digest, Better Homes and Gardens, The Zoe Report, Real Homes, and Homes & Gardens, among others.
I know that I'm not everyone's cup of tea, but then again, neither are you…
